Season Five
by jrrm64
Summary: This is AU. It will take up where the series left off and take it in a different direction.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

The body of Elizabeth T'Les Tucker was interred on Vulcan. It was a quiet Vulcan ceremony officiated by a Vulcan Priestess. Besides for a good showing of crew from the Enterprise, Soval was there along with Solkar, the first ambassador to Earth, as well as his son Skon and his wife T'Rama. Councilor Kuvak was there also. Minister T'Pau even came as a show of respect since T'Pol's clan was related to Surak's Clan, as was Solkar's clan. As the Pid-kom, matriarch, of Clan Surak, she was honor bound to attend.

The body of the hybrid clone was treated with respect by the Vulcans. As the parents Commander Charles Anthony Tucker III and T'Pol stood apart from those attending. Both parents were dressed in the official mourning robes. Trip still had his arm in a sling from injuries dealing with Terra Prime. Phlox wanted to be by his side to monitor because he knew that he had eaten or slept in days, but Vulcan tradition left the parents isolated, except for a priest who cared for them.

The gravesite was part of T'Pol's Family Shrine. Although her mother and father were somewhat ostracized from the greater clan, the Pid-kom of the clan allowed for the burial of Elizabeth at the sight, even though the clan itself was not expected to attend the burial. At least, Elizabeth T'Les' name would be added to the Family registry. She would be noted, mourned, and remembered in some way.

Trip wasn't allowed to tell his family about his daughter. He was ordered to keep it quiet. Both the EU and Starfleet didn't want the atrocity that Paxton committed known to the greater public. Trip didn't care. His daughter was dead, and any chance of a relationship with T'Pol was also dead. He felt alone; he was alone.

Captain Archer asked to leave flowers at the gravesite. It was granted. He chose gardenias. After placing the gardenias in front of the stone crypt he glanced over at Trip. He saw how distraught the man was. His eyes were filled with tears and his face was both flush from the heat and pale at the same time. He worried about his health.

A glance at T'Pol made him worry about her health, also. She appeared barely to be in control of her emotions. The priest was attempting to assist her with a mind meld, when Trip finally collapsed from stress, heat, and lack of food and sleep. Phlox broke away from the crowd and ran over to his prone body. He ran his medical tricorder over him then looked at Captain Archer.

"Captain, I must take him to Sickbay," the Denobulan Doctor said.

"I'll have a shuttle pick him up right away along with you, doc," he said.

"Thank you, Captain, said Phlox, who began to attend to the unconscious Trip.

T'Pol looked down at him. She longed to abandon her Vulcan calm, kneel beside him, and gather him in her arms, but it wasn't the Vulcan way and she was a Vulcan. These were difficult times and they appeared to be getting even more difficult.

STSTST

In the Sickbay Phlox had Trip on a bio-bed with two IVs in his right arm, one fed him saline solution for dehydration and the other one fed his body nutrients his body needed. He opened eyes and wondered how long he had been out.

"Ah, Mister Tucker, you are finally awake," said with great delight by Phlox, who was feeding one of the pets in his menagerie.

"How long I been asleep, doc?" he asked.

"Fifteen hours and only a little of it with my help. Your body needed the rest," Phlox smiled turning his face into an inhumanly wide grin.

Trip started to sit up. It wasn't long enough a rest it seemed. His body was still tired and his baby girl was still dead.

"Tut, tut, Mister Tucker," said Phlox, who rushed over to his side, as Trip started to fall out of the bio-bed. The Denobulan doctor adjusted the bed so he was sitting up. He then checked his IV needles.

"How much longer do you expect me to stay in Sickbay?" asked Trip.

He didn't bother to hide his annoyance at being in Sickbay.

"Six more hours. By then I'll be satisfied that your body has enough rest and nutrients so that you don't get ill," said Phlox.

Before Trip could start an argument, a grim faced Captain Archer entered the Sickbay. Trip and Phlox watched him as he walked up to Trip's bed, cleared his throat, and nodded at Phlox.

"Phlox, I need to speak to Trip for a few moments," said Archer.

"Of course, Captain. I think I'll head into my office and do some work in there," he said.

Phlox cleared out of Sickbay leaving the captain and his chief engineer alone, except for Phlox's medicinal pets. Archer walked over to the bio-bed with Trip in it and hesitantly started to explain.

"I heard from Admiral Roddenberry, the Chief of Staff, about six hours ago. You've been asleep, and I've been thinking about how to tell you this," said Archer then paused.

"Cap'n, nothing you have to say could be worse that what I've already gone through these past few weeks," said Trip.

Archer inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled. His friend was right. He'd been through hell.

"You've right, Trip, so I'll just tell you outright what the Chief of Staff told me," said Archer. "We are headed back to Earth for a crew rotation. There is a fear from President Samuels and from Fleet Admiral Becket of a coming war with the Romulans. They think the drone was meant as a test of our defenses and allies. If a war is to happen then Starfleet needs a fleet, not just a couple of NX starships and some older, slow starships."

"That's a hell of job for someone," said Trip.

"Will Jefferies has been promoted to full admiral and been placed in charge of the Corp of Engineers and its subsidiary departments," said Archer.

"Good for him. If there is a man who can handle a job that large, it's him," said Trip.

"I know and I agree," said Archer, who then looked down at the deck before looked back up at Trip. "According to Roddenberry his first request was you. He said if I'm going to turn the Intrepid-Class into frigates and Daedalus-Class starships into cruisers to be feared then he needed Tucker, a brilliant engineer with practical experience."

Trip looked at Archer with a mix of anxiety and hope. Part of him wanted away from _Enterprise_. It hurt to be around T'Pol and the _Enterprise_ no longer felt like home. But, he also didn't want to leave the _Enterprise_ or T'Pol because he loved her and the _Enterprise_ was his ship in many ways. It broke warp 5 because of him and his modifications and he had more in mind. But life would sure as hell be easier to be away from the _Enterprise_ and T'Pol.

"What does this mean, Cap'n?" he asked.

"You've been promoted to captain effective immediately and reassigned to the Advanced Starship Design Bureau where you will be spearheading the creation of a real fleet," said Archer.

"Damn, sir, I don't know what to say," Trip said.

"Well, I have congratulations to offer you. Once you are able to leave this bed, we'll have a promotion ceremony in the Cargo Bay then we'll have a wetting down in the Mess with you, me, Malcolm, Travis, and some of your engineering. I'm losing the best chief engineer in the fleet, but Starfleet is getting a great captain," said Archer.

"Thank you, sir," said Trip.

"Trip, call me Jon. You're going to be the same rank soon," he smiled.

"Jon, I…," Trip hesitated then stopped. He really didn't know what to say.

"I understand that you've been through a lot, Trip. When Roddenberry told me this, I was tempted to fight it. I was preparing to send a comm to Fleet Admiral Beckett and force them to let you stay put, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this is a great opportunity for you, I kept my mouth shut. I hope you understand."

"I understand," he replied.

STSTST

The Priest Murac whispered into the ear of the High Priestess T'Lan. They were in one of the guests chambers. Soval and Solkar had escorted to T'Pol to Mount Seleya for a retreat so that she could regain control of her emotions. Soval observed the pair and knew that whatever the priest has said to the high priestess had changed that. She dismissed Murac and then motioned the three guests to sit on the marble bench.

"Is there a problem?" asked Soval.

"There is a complication," said T'Lan.

"High Priestess T'Lan, since complications can become a problem, I ask that we speak openly," said Solkar.

"T'Pol, daughter of T'Les, dost thou hold offense if I speak openly in front of these men?" T'Lan asked formally.

"Soval has been a valued mentor and Solkar's clan and my clan are related," she said.

T'Lan nodded then moved gracefully in her formal robes and sat down on a marble bench across from them. Soval observed a slight crinkling around her eyes. She was upset.

"T'Pol is subconsciously suppressing a tel, a marriage bond," she stated. "This is one of the reasons her emotional control is unstable. The other is the death of her child, which must be dealt with through meditation, suppression, and purging."

"Should we contact Koss?" asked Soval.

"Who is Koss?" asked T'Lan.

"He was her husband until he released her from the marriage," said Soval.

"No, he is not her mate. Her mate is a Human," T'Lan said with a hint of disgust.

T'Pol looked at the high priestess and raised her left eyebrow questioningly.

"Explain," she demanded.

"Murac felt the bond between you and Commander Tucker. He also is suppressing the bond subconsciously, but it is a strong bond, a bond that was formed over a year ago and they have been in each other's presence for most of that year, so the bond has not been nourished, yet it has deepened and grown," explained T'Lan.

"Severing of the bond?" asked T'Pol.

"Could prove fatal for one or both of you," answered T'Lan.

"You are mated to Commander Tucker," stated Soval. "He is an overly emotional male. This is distressing."

"Commander Tucker is more than he seems," said T'Pol.

"He honored Vulcan and T'Pol by allowing his child to be buried as a Vulcan," said Solkar.

"You must stop suppressing your bond," T'Lan told T'Pol. "It is at the stage where separation will weaken the bond but it will not dissolve it. If you stop suppressing the bond, some of your emotional control will return in a matter of days. The rest will occur with mediation and time."

"I believe I should return to the _Enterprise_ instead of taking this retreat," T'Pol said.

She stood up and offered a nod towards T'Lan.

"You have been both instructive and helpful in your information," said T'Pol. "I need to contact the _Enterprise_ to tell them that I will not be taking time off after all."

STSTST

T'Pol shuttled up to the _Enterprise_ and spent the next two days in her quarters resting and meditating. Changing into her red catsuit uniform, she wore as the first officer of the _Enterprise_, she reported to Captain Archer's Ready Room before her duty shift.

"Enter," he said after she buzzed the door.

She entered the Ready Room and stood in front of his desk looking calmer and more rested than she had in weeks. Archer noted this and made a mental note to have her see Dr. Phlox for a physical at some point.

"We have been ordered back Earth for some crew rotation, T'Pol," he said.

"Have you been given the names of crew who will be rotated?" she asked.

He handed her the PADD he was reviewing. She quickly scanned the names and saw that Commander Tucker topped the list. Her heart felt as if it skipped a beat. He was leaving her.

"I see Commander Tucker's name here," she said in an even tone hiding her pain at the discovery.

"Admiral Roddenberry has requested him personally to be reassigned to the Advanced Starship Design Bureau," he said. "With the new assignment he has been promoted to captain. There is a fear in the EU and Starfleet that Romulan Star Empire has targeted us for a war and Admiral Jefferies has been tasked to build a fleet quickly. Trip will be an important part of that."

Keeping a calm façade, she nodded and said, "I see."

Her plans of talking to him about their bound had suddenly changed. She could not burden him now. The bond would exist as long as both of them remained living. Since she now had stopped suppressing it, she was able to sense his emotions more and more and the strength of their bonding. It was satisfying to her to know the bond was so strong and capable of being even more, yet the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. There discussion could wait for now. Trip was needed by Starfleet to perform a task he was well suited for.

"It has been decided that we will be having a promotion ceremony and wetting down on the _Enterprise_ for him when we get to Earth. I hope you feel well enough, T'Pol, to partake in it," Archer said.

"I will try, Captain," T'Pol replied.

She handed him back the PADD.

"I take it that Lieutenant Commander Kelby will be the chief engineer," she said.

"Yes, Commander," Archer said.

"I recommend a promote Lieutenant Anna Hess to first lieutenant and she be made second in command of Engineering. Commander Tucker has spoken often highly of her skills. He has mentioned that she would make a fine chief someday," T'Pol told him.

"No better recommendation than Trip's," smiled Archer.

"Agreed," said T'Pol.

Now Archer leaned back in his chair and looked at his executive officer. He had come to know her very well over the years. Archer would even say that they were friends. He was worried about her but he knew not to push too hard.

"How are you doing, T'Pol?"

"I am fine, Captain."

"If you need extra time off on the way back to Earth, please just schedule it," he said.

"The High Priestess T'Lan has recommended extra meditation for me. I believe I will take her advice, so I will not be able to attend your dinners," she said.

"Take as much time as you need, T'Pol."

"Thank you, Captain," replied T'Pol.

He could see that she was uncomfortable now. She wouldn't say it, but he'd learned to read her body language.

"Dismissed, Commander. Set up a schedule for yourself so that you get plenty of rest and meditation on this trip to Earth," he said.

"Thank you, sir," she replied.

STSTST

Admiral Jefferies personal shuttle had arrived along with the Admiral himself. He had come for the promotion ceremony and to give Trip a ride back to Earth. The sooner he had the engineer working with the Advanced Starship Design Bureau the sooner a new fleet will emerge.

Trip was in his quarters finishing packing up his duffle bag. Someone buzzed his door. Trip walked over to the door and opened it. Standing there was Malcolm with a sad smile on his face.

"Come on in, pal," said Trip.

Malcolm stepped into the quarters. He looked around and noticed that his personal belongings had already been removed for shipping down to Earth. Trip was almost gone.

"I'm going to miss you, mate," he said.

Trip turned and looked at the man who had become in some ways his best friend. During their time in the Delphic Expanse Archer had become distant and obsessed. Trip had grown closer to Malcolm as a friend. The only one he had grown closer to than Malcolm was T'Pol, which he didn't want to think about because it brought up too many painful memories and feelings.

"I heard that at the ceremony you are getting a promotion to Lieutenant Commander. Congratulations, Mal. It's about time."

Trip offered him his right hand to shake. They shook hands.

"And you're going to be a bloody captain."

"Yeah, I guess I am," said Trip. "I heard Hoshi is being made lieutenant and Travis is going from JG to a first lieutenant. This crew should be proud of itself."

"This crew is going to miss the best chief engineer in the whole damned fleet," said Malcolm.

"I guess we should get going," Trip said then gave him a slap on the back. "Jon would be pissed if we didn't show up the ceremony."

"Trip before we leave I wanted to tell you that I've never had a friendship before like the one I've developed with you. I've always been aloof and distant, but you've managed to become my best friend," Malcolm admitted to him.

"You know what that means, Mal," said Trip.

"What?"

"We have to remain friends even if we aren't on the same boat," smiled Trip.

Malcolm returned the smile.

"I'd like that," said Malcolm.

"Come on. Let's go get out promotions," Trip prodded him.

STSTST

Jon stood on a makeshift stage and gave a speech. He talked about his friendship with Trip and what the younger man had accomplished so far, including now becoming the youngest captain on record. Trip stood beside him and listened. He saw that T'Pol showed up for the ceremony, even though she had been ignoring him. The assumption that he made was that his presence was painful to her. He didn't realize that she drew great comfort from him now that she knew that the bond was permanent.

"So, I introduce to you, Captain Charles Anthony Tucker III," stated Archer.

He took the commander pips off the collar of his flight suit uniform and then he pinned the captain pips to his collar. Leaning into Trip, Archer whispered to his old friend, "Those are my old captain pips. Now say a few words, Trip."

Archer stepped away from Trip, who felt his face blushing. He waved at the gathered crowd, who started to applaud him with some whoops and yells thrown in from Engineering. The noise calmed down and he was able to speak.

"I'm humbled by this," smiled Trip. "I know I'll be leaving the _Enterprise_ in good hands. This ship is the best in the fleet because of its crew and I have a feeling that for as long as Captain Archer is your captain and Commander T'Pol the XO, it will continue to be the best in the fleet."

The applause grew again and Captain Tucker did his best to get off the stage and start finding certain crewmembers to say a personal goodbye, though he knew he'd avoid T'Pol if he could. It would be too painful to say goodbye to her.

STSTST

In the Captain's Mess Admiral Jefferies, Captain Archer, Captain Tucker, Commander T'Pol, and Lieutenant Commander Reed were standing around the table, which had been turned into a buffet. Chef had put up a buffet in the main Mess and Captain's Mess for VIPs. The steward brought in a bottle of one hundred year old single malted scotch and showed it to Captain Archer. He gave his approval and the steward took it away to decant it and pour drinks for a toast.

"You get five days to get settled then you are mine, Captain Tucker," said Jefferies.

"Yes, sir," said Trip.

T'Pol managed to give Trip a wide berth even in a small room. She did this out a respect for him knowing he was having trouble with his emotions towards her, though Trip took it as her not wanting to deal with him. Again without even realizing it, they were hurting each other.

The steward handed out glasses of the scotch, including to T'Pol, who took the scotch in hand. Trip noticed that she sniffed it and a look of almost horror quickly crossed her beautiful face at what she smelled. He smiled at this.

"I think we should have a toast. Admiral Jefferies, will you do us the honor?" asked Archer.

Admiral Jefferies, who was a man in his fifties just starting to fit off a middle aged paunch with salt and pepper hair, sniffed the scotch and smiled. He lifted the glass.

"Gentlemen and lady, it appears that we are on the verge of a war with the Romulan Star Empire," he started.

The room gave him their total attention.

"We are not ready for a war with such an enemy, but we will be. As a race Humanity should never be underestimated. We have a way of not only surviving but triumph in situations where superior races have fallen. If there is to be a war, I guarantee three things: we will have a fleet, we will have allies, and we will surprise our enemy."

He lifted his glass, so did everyone else, including T'Pol. He drank down the scotch and the rest did the same.

Chapter One

**Eight Weeks later**

**Starfleet Headquarters, San Francisco. **

The conference room had a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Stewards quickly served coffee and tea then made an exit so the conversation could take on a high security level. Wearing the new service dress uniforms, which consisted of black pants and black tunic jacket with Starfleet badge over the left breast, rank insignia, rank pips on collar, service color badged on collar, and assignment patch on left upper arm, Trip sat in on this meeting with Admiral Jefferies, Admiral Roddenberry, Admiral Gardner, Chief of Ops, Fleet Admiral Beckett, Administrator Herman Buchholz, Captain Steinberg of the Corp of Engineers, and Skon of Vulcan. All of them were wearing their service dress uniforms, except Skon who was in Vulcan robes.

"I'd like to defer to Captain Tucker on the state of our upgrade of the fleet," said Jefferies, who nodded towards Trip.

"To begin with, we have currently taken the whole Intrepid-Class fleet out of service and have begun upgrading them in three locations: Jupiter Station, Mars shipyard, and the new Mars complex station," Trip started. "This totals sixty ships, which are currently having this warp engines, impulse engines, and weapons upgraded. We are also integrated the newly acquired defensive shields to the Intrepid-Class, which we are now classifying as a frigate."

"How are these shields working?" asked Gardner.

"Once the emitters are placed on the hull, calibrated, and powered up, we finally have working defensive shields," said Trip.

"I want them on the NX immediately," said Gardner.

"The NX will get them when they are brought in to be retrofitted," said Jefferies. "Captain Tucker and Captain Steinberg have come up with a new design that will increase the NX crew to two hundred and make it a heavy cruiser."

"When will these retrofits occur?" asked Beckett.

"The new design will be immediate to the new NX and will begin to the older NX once we are done with the Intrepid-Class and begin the Daedalus-Class," answered Jefferies, who then nodded at Trop to continue.

"These new frigates will have a crew of forty-eight. Extra room was taken up with added torpedo rooms for the new Mark I torpedoes," said Trip.

"When do we expect the frigates to be finished?" asked Beckett.

"The complete fleet will be done in two months from tomorrow," said Trip. "These frigates will be capable of a top speed of warp 4.5 and a cruising speed of warp 4. They will have fix plasma cannons and four torpedo tubes. I believe I stated before that the crew size will be a max of 45."

"Not bad. It will make the frigate a good escort starship," said Gardner.

"We can even use it for patrolling colonies and starbases," added Roddenberry.

"Sir, we have begun a special project on the twenty Discovery-Class and twenty Poseidon-Class starship to upgrade them to warp 3 with defensive shields, four cannons, and two torpedo tubes to use as cutters to patrol colonies and starbases. These modifications and upgrades are being made by teams of engineers and the ship doesn't have to be placed in dock," Trip told them. "These ships will have a crew of 22."

"Tell me what will be happening to the Daedalus-Class ships," Beckett directed.

"The Daedalus-Class will be our cruisers. Once their warp engines have been replaced and modified, they will be capable of warp 5.9 top speed with a cruising speed of warp 5.2," Trip told the fleet admiral. "The weapons upgrade will give them six cannons and six torpedo tubes with a crew of 150."

"Impressive," said Beckett.

"You and Steinberg have also been working on the NX upgrades. I want to hear about them," Gardner ordered.

"The NX upgrades will give us an engineering section besides a saucer section. From experience I known that some of the problems we've been having in order to increase our speed has been the dilithium intermix formula, as well as the antimatter flow regulators controlling the plasma pressure in the intermix chamber. We have hired a mathematician from Vulcan to help assist us with the formula. This was arranged with the assistance of Ambassador Soval. Skon is leading a team on a new formula. As for the antimatter flow regulators and the plasma pressure in the intermix chamber, we've solved that problem with more plasma injectors and, also, believe an injector assembly upgrade will give us greater speed," explained Trip.

Trip thought of Lorian, his and T'Pol's son in the Delphic Expanse. It was Lorian who taught him about the injector assembly upgrade. His heart swelled with pride and sadness. He missed T'Pol.

"Okay, that how you fix it, but what are we talking about in terms of changes?" asked Gardner.

"The NX will have a max speed of warp 7.2 with a cruising speed of warp 6.4. The upgrades will give it shields, as well as ten cannons and eight torpedo tubes. The new crew size will be 220," stated Trip.

Beckett smiled. He leaned over and whispered something to Roddenberry, who nodded his head. Eight weeks of work by Trip and the team he put together had put them on the path of a real fleet. The NX would be the equal of most ships out there and the rest had a fighting chance.

"Thank you, Captain," said Jefferies, who smiled at Trip with more than a little pride showing.

"I have a question for Captain Tucker," said Roddenberry.

"Yes, sir," said Trip.

"We have the _Enterprise_, _Columbia_, _Challenger_, and soon to be _Discovery_ in service," said Roddenberry. "How many more NX will be capable of building within the year?"

"If we gave one of three sights over to building them then I'd say twelve. The problems in mass producing the warp five engine has been solved by Captain Steinberg with some suggestions by me. Once the engine is produced the modifications to make its max speed warp 7.2 take four hours," said Trip.

"Would it just be one sight really?" asked Gardner.

"Sir, as you know we have sights in Wyoming and Montana where certain sections are built then transported to the shipyard of station for assembly. If production at one site went from its current twelve hour shift to twenty-four hours, I see no problem in adding another 12 NX ships within the year," said Trip.

"When you were the chief engineer and second officer of the _Enterprise_, who gained battle command experience, as well diplomatic experience, isn't that true?" asked Roddenberry.

"Yes, sir, I have some command experience," said Trip.

"Good to know," said Roddenberry.

"I'd say this meeting is over. I'd like Captain Tucker and Admiral Jefferies to stay behind. Admiral Roddenberry and I would like to speak to you for a moment," said Fleet Admiral Beckett.

Gardner looked furtively over at Roddenberry and Beckett. He knew that neither man thought him the best replacement for Admiral Forest. He stood up and walked out trying to look dignified and unaffected. Everyone else filed out except Trip and Jefferies. They remained seated.

"Gentlemen," Beckett started, "President Samuels has judged that building a fleet is of vital importance, but he does not want to bankrupt the EU, so after all the upgrades, refits, and retrofits, he wants the only new ships to be built to be Daedalus-Class because they are the cheapest to build since we already are set up to build them, but he will allow for twelve new NX. I want more upgrades for the Daedalus-Class, greater speed if possible, more weapons, but I want the NX to be our finest starships. I want them to be the equal or better than anything the Vulcans and Andorians have. Do you understand?"

"R&D is working on a quad barrel EM Gatling rail cannon," said Trip. "Once it is perfected it could be added to the weapons profile of the NX that haven't been built yet."

"Do it," ordered Beckett.

"I'll shift Steinberg and Tucker to work on further upgrades for the Daedalus," said Jefferies.

"No," said Beckett. "Admiral Jefferies, I want Captain Tucker working on the NX. The eighth NX slated to be built is the _Pegasus_. I want you to be the Captain of the _Pegasus_, Captain Tucker."

"Sir, me, a captain," smiled Tucker.

"Yes, you, a captain. Your engineering experience has proved to be a great asset, but I don't want to waste your field experience as a commander. Are you interested, Captain?"

Trip smiled, "I guarantee you, sir, that the _Pegasus_ will be the most advanced ship in the fleet and I'll be proud to be its captain."

"Good to hear it," said Beckett then he looked at Roddenberry. "Have the papers drawn up. You might as well make him captain of the _Pegasus_ now."

"It would be my pleasure, Admiral," said Roddenberry.

"It looks like you have a fan or two, Tucker," said Jefferies.

STSTST

T'Pol sat in her blue catsuit at the Science Station, while Captain Archer sat on the command chair staring at the main view screen. On the screen two Andorian warships were approaching the Enterprise.

"We are being hailed by the _Em'phur_, Captain," Hoshi told him.

"Put'm on the screen, Hoshi," he said.

An Andorian male in an Imperial Guard uniform appeared. Archer inwardly sighed. The last month had been spent ferrying diplomats and acting as one himself.

"I am Captain Jonathan Archer. I believe you have some cargo for us," he said.

"I am Commander Then Argilev. The new liaison to Starfleet and his family are waiting to shuttle over to you. Are you ready to receive him?" asked Argilev.

"Ready and happy to have him," said Archer.

"Commander Shran and his wife Jhamel shuttle will be with you shortly," said Argilev.

The screen went dark returning to the two Andorian warships. Archer stood up then he looked over at T'Pol. She looked up from the Science Station.

"Yes, Captain," she said.

"You have the conn, Commander," he said.

She stood up and walked over to the command chair, as Archer stepped away and looked at Malcolm.

"Malcolm, care to join me in meeting Shran and his wife," said Archer.

"Yes, sir," said Malcolm.

A replacement, who was standing by the door to the Situation room, took Malcolm's place. T'Pol paid no attention, as the two men exited the Bridge. She held a PADD in her right hand and reviewed the information.

Hoshi surreptitiously observed T'Pol. Since Commander Tucker had left the Enterprise, she noticed that T'Pol had retreated behind her wall of Vulcan equanimity. Between the death of baby Elizabeth and the reassignment of now Captain Tucker, she had distance herself from the rest of the crew. She was never too close to T'Pol, though she was starting to think of her as a friend, yet now she saw T'Pol as the lonely Vulcan on board a ship full of Humans.

As hard as she tried to disbelieve the rumors about Trip and T'Pol, it really did seem that the two of them shared more than a friendship. She tried hard to pull some gossip from Malcolm, but he was always at his best British tight upper lip when it came to his pal, Trip Tucker. Maybe now that Trip was gone, she'd see if Malcolm would be willing to share the dirt.

STSTST

Archer and Malcolm waited for the red light to jump to the green light, so that Malcolm could open the docking hatch. The pressure and atmosphere equalized and the light went from red to green. Malcolm opened the hatch and Shran and his wife entered the _Enterprise_.

"Pinkskin, Jhamel and I are happy to be on your ship," said Shran.

"I know you'd rather be on your own ship, Shran," said Archer.

"Yes," said Shran with his antennae twitching, "I would, but I have been demoted from general back to commander and a commander who lost his ship at that. Once the _Kumari_ was destroyed in battle, I lost my chance at commanding a ship again."

Jhamel reached for his face in the way a blind person reaches for sound. She gently touched his cheek.

"Don't upset yourself, my love," she said. "Someday you will command a ship again."

"If I wait on the capricious nature of the Imperial Guard then I'll be a liaison to Starfleet for the rest of my career," said Shran.

"Who said who have to command an Andorian ship?" smiled Archer.

Shran laughed at this. The thought of commanding a Human ship was preposterous. Yet, the thought also made him smile.

"Malcolm, show Shran and his lovely wife to their quarters. We'll be having dinner at 1830. I hope you enjoy our chef's cooking," said Archer.

"I have no doubt that we will, Pinkskin," said Shran.

Malcolm led Shran and Jhamel down the hallway. He watched how Jhamel held onto her husband's arm as they walked. Shran was her protector, her guide, and her beloved. Archer felt a twinge of jealousy. Turning around, he headed back to the Turbolift and the Bridge.

STSTST

Trip entered the 602 wearing his service dress uniform. He noticed that there were more than a few wearing the new BDUs. The new duty uniforms consisted of black pants with department color strip up the sides, a short jacket with black on the sides and department color filling out the rest, and a white faux turtleneck shirt. On the sleeve of the jacket were rank insignia, pips on the collar, Starfleet badge on the left breast, and on the left sleeve assignment patch. Noncoms wore a gray jumpsuit with rank on sleeve, department color bars on shoulders, and wearing a corresponding department colored faux turtleneck under the jumpsuit. Trip missed the simple flight suit uniforms.

He walked over to a table where Captain Steinberg and two other officers waited for him.

"Trip, have a seat," said Steinberg, who kicked a seat out for him.

He wore the service dress uniform, while the other two wore the new duty uniform. Trip sat down. He looked at the two officers who he didn't know.

"Captain Charles Anthony Tucker III, this is Captain Carlos Ramirez and Captain Isabella Conti," Steinberg introduced him.

"Call me Trip," said Trip.

"So you are the man who is given me and my crew extra shore leave, while my ship is upgraded," said Ramirez. "If you can turn a Daedalus-Class into a ship capable of warp 5 then you are a genius, isn't that right, Bella?"

"If you say so, Carlos," said Bella.

A waitress came over to take Trip's order.

"I'll have a beer," he said.

She smiled and left to get him his drink.

"You don't like the Daedalus-Class?" asked Trip.

"Trip, The NX is elegant, while the Daedalus is plebian," said Isabella.

"Hell, no," said Trip. "The giant ball instead of a saucer and the nacelles attached to a long tube shape engineering section. It's a unique design. Hell, sometimes I think it only needs some to be tweaked."

"Are you a romantic, Trip?" asked Isabella.

Trip looked at Captain Conti. She was beautiful with soft chestnut long hair pulled up in a bun and dark eyes. He should be attracted to her, but he wasn't. Trip could appreciate her beauty, but he wasn't sexually attracted. _Damn it, T'Pol, I can't believe you have ruined me for other women. _

"I've been accused of that once or twice," he said.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Many of those who were born on a planet thought of space as a cold void, a challenge to be conquered. It was a place to explore and to fear, but not to live. These people weren't boomers, though, who were born in space and lived there. Boomers were the backbone of the Earth Cargo Service. The ECS _Spacefarer_ was traveling at warp 3. It was two days out of Alpha Centauri III carrying a cargo hold of medical supplies for the capital city New Samarkind. One of the first Human colonies in the Beta Quadrant, the Earth Cargo Service had a regular bi-monthly freighter run to the colony. It was considered an easy milk run by the freighter captains. A three week trip there and three weeks back.

Until the _Enterprise_ launched, ECS freighter ships were the only Earth vessels the Human colony saw. The Daedalus-class could reach them at warp 3 but it was considered too long a trip and somewhat dangerous. The Vulcans advised against Starfleet going too deep into space with only warp three capability. The ECS vessels were willing to take those long trips because the crews were at home in space. At warp 4.5 the _Enterprise_ took weeks off the journey making it feasible to travel there, but the _Enterprise_ wasn't a cargo service.

"Hey, Bob, let New Samarkind know that we are running on schedule," said Captain Dennis Worth to his comm officer.

The _Bridge_ of the Spacefarer bore little resemblance to a Starfleet Starship. It had a lived in quality and was run with an easy hand.

"Sure, Captain," came the response.

"Milly is having a birthday party for Janna in cargo hold 2," said Anna Worth, first officer and wife of Dennis. "Why don't you drop by and have some cake?"

Dennis Worth yawned. The idea of having a nice piece of cake and cup of coffee appealed to him. He looked over at his wife.

"I think I will," he said.

He started to walk to the door to leave the Bridge when he was stopped by his sensor officer.

"Dennis, I just picked up a strange reading. It flashed and then disappeared," said Holly Mann.

"What do you think it was…"

He never finished the sentence, as the ECS _Spacefarer_ hit a cloaked Romulan mine. The first mine destroyed the Bridge and sent the freighter into a second mine which turned the rest of the ship in debris.

STSTST

The _Columbia_ along with the _Discovery_ slowed to one quarter impulse as they approached the section of space where the _Spacefarer_ was destroyed. Both starships sensors picked up the debris field, the remains of a ship and the people who lived on it. Once the _Spacefarer_ didn't show up at New Samarkind, it was reported missing. With tensions high over the potential for a coming war, Starfleet deployed two of the NX to search for it. They found the debris and one of the cloaked Romulan mines, which kept cloaking and un-cloaking due to a malfunction.

Captain Hernandez turned to her comm officer.

"Hail, the _Discovery_," she said.

The Captain Edward Paris appeared on the main view screen. He was a man in his forties with brownish red hair and a roguish smile.

"Erica," he said.

"Edward. It appears that we are in front of a Romulan minefield that destroyed the _Spacefarer_," she said.

"I can see that. Poor bastards didn't have a chance with cloaked mines," he sighed.

"The Romulans had to know that ECS freighters used this sector of space as a damned route to Alpha Centauri," she seethed.

"If it was up to me I'd back off to maximum range then fire some torpedoes into the minefield exploding the damn things," Paris stated.

"We might end up doing that, Edward, but first we should capture the malfunctioning mine and try to learn as much about these mines as we can," she said.

Paris smiled, "That's why you get the big bucks, Erica. Do you want to send a shuttle to pick it up or should I?"

"I'll send a shuttle out to capture it," she said.

"Whatever help you need, let me know. We'll be sitting right here," he said. "Paris, out."

The main view screen returned to a view of the cloaking and de-cloaking mine.

"XO," she spoke up after a minute of thought.

"Yes, sir," snapped Lieutenant Commander Styles.

Lieutenant Commander Hal Styles was a good XO, but Erica Hernandez could have done without the constant uptight military style.

"Who is our best pilot?"

Styles looked at her with expression that she was slightly insane, as the thought of bringing a live mine on board the ship didn't appeal to him.

STSTST

Trip sat in his office in Starfleet Headquarters reviewing reports on some of his handiwork. The sixty Intrepid-Class ships had been retrofitted and upgraded into now warp 4.5 capable frigates and now the Daedalus-Class ships were now being pulled out of service for their upgrades and retrofitting. Also, the combined 40 Discovery-Class and Poseidon-Class starships had been converted to warp 3 capable border cutters. He didn't know how any of these ships were going to be deployed, though he knew that the ECS was calling for escorts for some of their freighters. His comm buzzed.

He fingered the comm button, "Tucker."

"_Captain Tucker, Admiral Jefferies wants to know if you have reviewed the proposal for a maintenance yard on Proxima_?" asked Commander Michele Li, who was one of Jefferies aides.

"Let the Admiral know I read the proposal and I endorse the proposal, but I think we should also have maintenance facilities on one or two of the new starbases being built by the Corp of Engineers," he offered.

"_I'll make a note of that and let know, Captain. Li, out_," she said then broke off the connection.

Trip smiled. He had become used to Li's abruptness which could be mistaken for rudeness. His own assistant, Ensign Alexander Balanchine, wasn't known as the friendliest person around. Trip chalked it up to the fact that they worked for busy people who had little free time. His comm buzzed again. Trip sighed. He'd sent Balanchine to R&D to check on a few things for him, so he had to answer his own comm. He fingered the comm button again.

"Tucker," he said in a tone of extreme exasperation.

"_Trip, you sound like a busy man_," said Archer with a chuckle.

"Cap'n, this is unexpected to hear from you," he smiled then leaned back in his chair.

He placed his PADD on his desk next to his figure of the Wolfman and Frankenstein.

"How are you, Jon?" he asked.

"_Good, Trip. It appears that I'm going to be on Earth for a month or so because the Enterprise is being called in for upgrades. I thought I might have dinner with an old friend_," Archer said.

"I'd love that. Tell me when and where," replied Trip.

"_I promise Shran Chinese food and he'd like to see you, too. How about Chinatown, Hunan Kitchen, tonight at 1700_?" he asked.

"I'll have my schedule cleared, Jon," said Trip.

He heard laughter on the other end of the comm.

"_You have a schedule, Trip. I'd forgotten that riding a desk is ball busting work_," said Archer.

"You have no idea, Jon, no idea."

"_Malcolm will be coming along, also. For some reason he misses you,"_ Archer teased.

"Damn, I miss Mal, too. I haven't talked to him since I left the Enterprise. They've been keeping me busy here," Trip said.

"_Well then tonight at 1700 you get to relax with friends_," he said. "_It will be good to see you, Trip._"

"Same here, Cap'n."

STSTST

T'Pol stood at the gate of the Vulcan Compound in Sausalito with her duffle bag over her shoulder waiting to be allowed onto the compound. Since _Enterprise_ going to be in space dock for upgrades for an extended period, she decided to spend her time at the Vulcan compound in meditation. Part of her wanted to seek out Captain Tucker and speak to him, but the _Enterprise_ being in space dock to have defensive shields, weapons upgrades, and engine modifications to allow a max of warp 7 proved to her that Trip was busy with important work.

"Commander T'Pol," the Vulcan guard finally returned to her, "Ambassador V'Lar would like for you to have dinner with her tonight in her quarters."

"Tell the ambassador, that I will attend her quarters for dinner," said T'Pol.

"Temporary quarters have been set up for you in the alien quarters," he said. "Will you need an escort to that section of the compound?"

Some Human stayed on the compound for retreats and to learn Vulcan meditation. Her being place with Humans was meant as an insult, though she didn't take it as an insult. She had spent far too much time with Humans to be insulted by the presence. It also was true that she was in Human terms _in love_ with a Human.

"I do not need an escort," she replied coldly.

STSTST

Trip showed up at the restaurant in jeans and a sweater shirt. He immediately noticed Mal, Jon, and Shran in their civilian clothes seated at a table. Walking past the hostess, he smiled and pointed to the table then joined them.

"Trip," smiled Jon.

"Captain Tucker," Malcolm said.

"I'm Trip tonight, Mal. Don't be all professional on me just because we haven't seen each other for a while."

"Good to see you, Trip," said Mal.

"Pinkskin Tucker," Shran spoke up. "I hear you are helping to build a fighting fleet for Earth."

"I'm trying," said Trip. "What are you up to, Shran?"

"I am the Andorian military liaison which means I am no one. I have requested time on one of your ships, though," said Shran.

"He misses space," smiled Jon.

"It is part of me. I started as a lowly crewman and worked my way up to commander in the Imperial Guard. Being in space is part of me," he said.

"Let's see if we can get you into space then," said Jon.

"How about you, Captain Tucker?" asked Shran.

"I sort of miss space, too, Shran," he admitted.

"Then we must order a good stiff drink and toast a return to space for both of us," said Shran.

"I'm up for that," smiled Trip.

STSTST

T'Pol arrived at V'Lar's apartment with a bottle of mineral water. She buzzed the door. In her Vulcan robes, V'Lar answered it. T'Pol handed her the water.

"You have taken on the Earth custom of bringing a gift when invited to dinner," said V'Lar.

"You are against the custom?" asked T'Pol.

"No, T'Pol, I like the custom. I like many Earth customs. Please enter," she said.

She motioned to T'Pol to enter her apartment. T'Pol scanned the common room of the apartment. Almost as if to prove that she was an unusual Vulcan, V'Lar had several items that a Vulcan would eschew. On her wall she had Earth artwork. If T'Pol was not mistaken there was a lithograph of a Picasso from his blue period and Van Gogh's Sun Flowers. Also, there was a rocking chair to go along with the ottoman-like seating that Vulcans preferred.

"Take a seat, T'Pol. Dinner is stasis and takes only a few minutes to heat up. We are having risotto and a salad," V'Lar informed her.

"You like Human food?" asked T'Pol, as she sat down.

"I enjoy some of the flavors. They have some dishes which are not subtle in their seasoning, yet I find them enjoyable," she said. "You aren't going to lecture me on finding pleasure in what I eat, are you?"

T'Pol raised her right eyebrow and said, "I like pecan pie. It is a dessert with little virtually no nutritional advantage."

"I must try pecan pie," said V'Lar with a ghost of a smile. "Did Captain Tucker introduce you to pecan pie?"

"Yes," she answered.

"You know T'Pol that there are many in the new government who would cast you out for mating with a Human. Fortunately, they are not the majority. T'Pau agrees with me that your bond with Captain Tucker is fortuitous for Vulcan," said V'Lar.

"I find it disquieting that you speak of my relationship with Captain Tucker. It is personal and private and should be respected," said T'Pol.

"It is also groundbreaking and needs to be monitored. If IDIC is a philosophy that Vulcans can truly live by, your relationship needs to succeed," she expressed. "Have you spoken to Captain Tucker about the bond?"

"No," T'Pol answered uncomfortably.

"May I ask why?"

T'Pol looked inside of herself for balance and calm.

"I do not believe it is any concern of yours," said T'Pol.

V'Lar sat in the rocking chair and started rocking. After a few moments of silence and thought, she spoke.

"Vulcan needs Earth. We are on the verge of great upheaval and I believe that Humanity handles the chaos of war better than Vulcans. We look to bring logic and hold onto our ways, while Humans embrace the anarchy of war and allow for something new to be born from it. The paradigm is shifting. T'Pol, you can help Vulcan in this shift," said V'Lar.

"By sharing my relationship with the High Council?" she asked V'Lar.

"No, by giving your relationship with Captain Tucker a chance to succeed," said V'Lar. "I support, T'Pol. Trust me."

"I have decided to wait to speak to him about the bond because he is imperative to Starfleet's construction of a fleet. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one," she said.

"I agree," V'Lar nodded her head. "You're logic is true."

T'Pol looked at V'Lar, whose expression softened.

"Do not burden your mate until he can handle it," she said. "But be careful, T'Pol, we Vulcans can sacrifice our needs to our logic."

STSTST

"Hess tells me that Kelby does things arse about face compared to you," chuckled Malcolm then he looked at Archer, who was trying not to laugh. "You know that, Captain."

Archer just shrugged but he wouldn't open his mouth.

Trip took another sip of his scotch.

"Please tell me he hasn't mucked up my engines," Trip begged.

"Malcolm, I think we can stop talking shop," Archer warned.

"No, no, Archer, Tucker needs to know about his engines," goaded Shran.

Archer rolled his eyes and waited.

"You got the engines to a max of warp 5.5," said Malcolm. "Kelby tops the engine out at warp 5.2."

"I need to talk to Hess," Trip growled.

"I knew would be brassed off," smiled Malcolm, who finished off his scotch.

"Damn," Archer said looking at his chronometer, "I have a meeting with the brass in the morning. I think they want to talk about some site."

"You're talking about your ability to see with the Admirals," said Malcolm.

"Not sight, Malcolm, but site," laughed Archer.

"Mal, I think you're drunk."

"I think you're right, Trip," replied Malcolm.

Shran joined Archer in laughing. Once they calmed down, Trip looked at Archer.

"I think the brass wants you opinion on a maintenance site at Proxima," said Trip. "I know Admiral Roddenberry and Fleet Admiral Beckett value your opinion. Admiral Jefferies has endorsed a proposal for one."

"And you?" asked Archer.

"I endorsed it, too."

Archer smiled. He picked up his drink and drained it.

"Shran, I promised Jhamel not to keep you out too late," Archer said slapping the Andorian on the back.

Trip looked over at Malcolm and grinned, "I guess you're responsibility."

"I'm not that drunk," said Malcolm.

"You're not that sober, either," smirked Trip. "How about we go back to my place? I don't have to be in until the afternoon."

"Sounds like flat mate for the night."

STSTST

The squadron of cloaked Romulan Birds of Prey entered the Sol system. The six ships slipped into the system. Each Bird of Prey had a target: Jupiter Station, Mars shipyard, Mars orbiting shipyard, Cochrane Facility in Bozeman, Montana, Starfleet Command, and EU Senate in Paris. The ships broke formation and heading into their positions. The countdown had begun.

Commander Philip Boyce liked the feel of his command chair. He liked his ship, the _Tiger Shark_, also, especially with its new capabilities. Boyce was tasked with leading the training squadron of 18 ships. Each ship was commanded by either a commander or a lieutenant commander with Boyce having the most experience.

"Darby, put me on fleet wide," he said.

"You are on, sir," said Darby.

"Our next training scenario is an attack on Earth," he spoke up knowing his voice was now broadcasting to all ships in the training squadron. "I want the _Denmark_, _Wong Fie Hung_, _Mifune_, and _Atlas_ to take up defensive stance of Earth. The _Montana, Dover, Lang, Poseidon, Bengali_, and _Burma_ to act as rovers. The _Raven_, _Mountbatten_, _White Horse_, and Juno to take head out to Jupiter Station. You'll be the attacking force. I lead the _Milky Way_, _Holland_, and the _Berlin_ against the attacking force. Break up into groups."

They broke their formation to take their new positions. Boyce sat back in the command chair.

"Darby, put fleet wide on standby," he said.

"Aye, sir," replied Darby.

"I want to be able to give instructions. This is a training squadron."

"Sir," Lieutenant 1st Class Omar Al Sistani, the XO, "should I take us to Tactical Alert?"

Boyce was about to give his answer when a Romulan Bird of Prey de-cloaked. His throat went dry and his stomach twisted into a knot, but he knew what needed to be done.

"Give me fleet wide," Boyce yelled.

"Shields up, make weapons hot. Battle Stations!" yelled Al Sistani.

"You have the fleet, sir," said Darby.

"Do not let these bastards hit their targets. Repeat, at any cost do not let these bastards hit their targets," ordered Boyce.

"Fire, cannons," ordered Al Sistani.

The opening salvos of the Romulan War had been fire.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Receiving limited damage in a skirmish with the frigates, the six Birds of Prey cloaked and disappeared. For the Commander of the Attack Fleet, Commander Talmok, the mission was a failure as not all of the targets were destroyed. When he returned to Romulan space he will lose his command and be demoted to sublieutenant. The Training Squadron got in their way and fought valiantly, but there was a cost paid. Jupiter Station was pounded by the Romulans and needed to be rebuilt. The four Daedalus-Class starships being worked on at the station were lost. Hundreds of lives were lost in the attack, though many engineers, station personnel, and construction workers cleared the station in life pods.

Thanks to the frigates acting as shields by their commanders placing them between the target and the Romulan ships, Mars Shipyard took limited damaged, as did the Mars Orbiting Space Dock and Shipyard. The _Enterprise_ didn't take any damage. Lieutenant Hess, who was overseeing some of the work being done on the ship, was sure that she was dead, yet she survived and the ship didn't even get a scratch. After the attack, she was ready to sign a petition to give everyone in Training Squadron a Starfleet Silver Palm with Cluster.

Unfortunately not ever target was so lucky. The Cochrane Facility was completely destroyed, as well as the surrounding town, and tens of thousands of lives were lost. Besides preparing engines and engine parts, the facility had sublevels where R&D on weapons and advanced starship designs were kept on secure servers. The Wyoming facility, which was working on non-priority tech for the ships being upgraded, went unharmed.

The frigates were able to stop any attack on Starfleet Headquarters and the United Earth Senate. The _Bengali_, _Dover_, _Milky Way_, _Lang_, and _Burma_ sacrificed themselves in order to stop those attacks. The reason these frigates were destroyed was because the Romulans used disruptors and several antiquated nuclear orbital missiles. The Cochran Facility was hit by one of those missiles. A twenty mile radius was destroyed by the missile. The frigates shields and hulls were unable to withstand the destructive power of those missiles.

Trip along with Malcolm, who volunteered to go with Trip, were part of a small task force sent out to the Bozeman, Montana facility to see if there was anything salvageable. Wearing the grey jumpsuit duty uniforms along with hazmat EV suits, the task force shuttled to Bozeman. The area of Bozeman that had been struck was decimated. Trees, buildings, and people had been incinerated by the force of the nuclear blast. The Cochrane facility substructure, which consisted of six sublevels, was the destination for the task force. Trip and Malcolm were assigned sublevel three were a stand-alone computer and secure servers had advanced weapons and starship designs. In the theory the sublevels were built to survive an EM pulse.

As the shuttle landed, Dr. Lymon stood up in front of the rest of the task force. He was there to assure that task force members didn't get radiation poisoning, or, if they did, they survived it. The doctor looked over the twelve task force members.

"Keep checking the radiation monitor on your wrist. If it is nearing the red, return to the shuttle. These monitors are your lifeline. Pay attention to them. I recommend that you check yours every ten minutes," he told them.

Instinctively, everyone looked at their wrist monitor. Trip tapped the face of the monitor with his index finger.

"The EV suit will be able to filter the air for at least ninety minutes. Don't go beyond that. If your suit is damaged at all, have your partner repair it then you must return to the shuttle for medical treatments," said Lymon. "Let's be quick about this. I really hate radiation sickness. It's messy."

Trip looked through his helmet window at Malcolm, who offered him a cocky grin.

"Remind you of our time on the Romulan drone," remarked Trip. "That was a fun ride."

"You got radiation sickness and we spent a good amount of time floating in space while a battle occurred around us. Let's avoid that this time, mate," said Malcolm.

The shuttle door opened. The task force members checked their equipment one last time then they started to head out to find the entrance to the sublevels. Trip darkened the glass of his helmet, as he stepped off the shuttle. The devastation he viewed sickened his stomach. Everything and everyone in twenty mile radius was incinerated. The senate had already okayed emergency efforts to deal with the radiation, as well as clear out populations that might be effected by the radiation. Tens of thousands of innocent lives were lost.

Tri couldn't help but think of baby Elizabeth. So many innocent lives taken, she was an innocent life. He wanted to damn all those who took innocent lives. His eyes stung from unshed tears. There was a job at hand. He forced himself to focus his attention on the work at hand.

STSTST

T'Pol arrived at Starfleet headquarters in a service dress uniform. She was escort by two the newly instituted Starfleet marines. The MACOs were now being folded into Starfleet and expanded into the marines. They escorted T'Pol to a room right off the Situation Room, where Fleet Admiral Beckett, Admiral Roddenberry, Captain Archer, and Chief of Security Admiral Jacob Drury were waiting for her in the secure room.

T'Pol entered the room and noted who was there. The men were seated at a table with several of them drinking coffee. The odor of the coffee mixed with testosterone made her regret not using a nasal inhibitor this morning. Archer waved her over to sit by him. She joined him.

"Admiral Drury, now that Commander T'Pol has joined us you can make your report," said Beckett.

"The Romulans knew exactly where to hit us. We can assume they knew about the Jupiter Station, but the Cochrane Facility use in the remaking of our fleet is top secret. The New Mars Orbiting Shipyard isn't something we share with our allies and the Mars Shipyard is a civil shipyard that we are using for the remaking of the fleet. Gentlemen, they had intel on us and I'm afraid that the intel came from one of coalition allies," lectured Drury.

"Why are we and T'Pol here?" asked Archer.

"Because, Jon, I got a report this morning from Starfleet Intelligence that the intel that the Romulans had either came from Operations or the Vulcans," said Roddenberry.

"Are we sure about this, Admiral?" asked Archer.

"The Romulans attacked the Montana facility but not the Wyoming facility. We are producing warp engines and engine parts there. In Wyoming we are producing stabilizers, assembly units, plasma conduits, and warp coils. These are important but non-vital. They can be produced elsewhere. The engines and engine parts are vital," Roddenberry informed Archer.

"Why are Commander T'Pol and myself here?" Archer asked.

"Because you have a unique relationship with the Vulcans which we believe makes you the best candidate to handle the interview. Ambassador Soval and V'Lar have agreed to speak to the two of you," said Beckett. "The conversation will be confidential. They said they will be willing to discuss important high security matters with you and if you feel that the information needs to be shared the you can share it will Starfleet. They are showing a great deal of trust in you, Captain."

Archer looked surprise. It was a deal that allowed a lot of power to him and T'Pol. They'd have to keep both the Vulcans and Starfleet satisfied. He looked over at T'Pol, who sat there stoically.

"Do you have a problem questioning the ambassadors, T'Pol?" Archer asked.

"Captain, I see no reason why I cannot do my duty. I will be glad to speak to the ambassadors," she said.

Archer smiled then looked over at Beckett and nodded in the affirmative.

"When do we meet with Soval and V'Lar?" asked Archer.

"I'll make the arrangements," said Roddenberry.

STSTST

The task force re-entered the shuttle. Once the bay door was closed and the shuttle's shielding up, those in the task force began to take off their EV suits. The shuttle lifted off in order to head to Starbase One orbiting Earth, where the shuttle would be scrubbed for radiation and the task force members given a checkup and treatment if needed. Everyone in the shuttle was silent as they worked to get their EV suits off.

Trip managed to pull off his helmet and gloves and now was in the process of removing the outer suit, when a fellow task force member leaned over and began to vomit. He looked at her with pity. She had radiation poisoning. He hoped that it wasn't an extreme case. The ensign slipped off her bench seating onto her knees and vomited again. Dr. Lymon immediately attended her with a hypospray injection of adrenaline. Another task force member became ill and a third one.

It was a small space for three of the twelve task force members to get ill. Trip ran his right hand through his wet from sweat hair. Like the rest of the members, he and Malcolm pushed the amount of time they spend in the sublevels, but he felt fine, at least, so far. The information being retrieved was too important.

"Bloody hell, I hope I don't cat out a lung," said Malcolm.

Trip rolled his eyes at him, "Now, Malcolm, that ain't a nice thing to say."

"Well, I can't stand to vomit. It's undignified, and it's all I ever did when I was on board a sea ship," he said.

"I've seen you get a little space sick, too," grinned Trip.

"I'm not all that fond of spacewalks," remarked Malcolm.

"I don't mind them so much," smiled Trip. "You and I have had some interesting ones."

"I know," said Malcolm. "You're still the first to transfer from one starship to another at warp speed via a spacewalk."

"Yeah, don't have remind me about that one," Trip replied. "That was unforgettable."

Pulling it out of his EV suits thigh pocket, Trip checked his hand scanner, in which he downloaded all the classified information that he and Malcolm were able to retrieve. In it were his own suggestions for the newer NX models, as well as the design of the quad barrel EM Gatling rail cannon.

"I tell you, mate, I can't wait until the Enterprise is upgraded and refit. Those Romulan bastards can't go unpunished for this," said Malcolm.

"We need more ships, Malcolm," sighed Trip. "We need more ships."

"That's your job, isn't it?" smirked Malcolm.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just stating a fact, mate," said Malcolm.

Trip glared at his friend.

"Do you miss it?" Malcolm asked him.

"Space?"

"Yeah, space, being in a starship, the adventure of it?" asked Malcolm.

Trip thought for a moment missing things. Yes, he missed traveling in space, but he missed more than that. He missed his engines and his Engineering crew, spending time with Malcolm, watching water polo with Jon, and T'Pol. He missed her very much.

"Yeah, Mal, I miss it," he said.

"Any chance of you getting your own command?" asked Malcolm.

Trip grinned, "A very good chance, Lieutenant Commander Reed."

Malcolm's face broke out in a big smile. He liked the idea of Trip getting his own command because it would allow him the opportunity to serve under him.

"So, don't keep a secret, mate, are you getting a ship?" he asked.

"Once it's built the _Pegasus_ is mine," said Trip.

"The _Pegasus_, huh? When will she be ready?"

"Give me some time, Malcolm. Give me some time."

STSTST

Soval and V'Lar waited for Archer and T'Pol to be shown into the conference room. The meeting had been arranged to take place at the Vulcan embassy. Now that Soval was once again heading the embassy and the new High Council wanted to reconcile with Earth, he knew important information needed to be shared, but the delicacy of the information made it imperative that it be shared within parameters. V'Lar argued for complete honesty, but she lost that argument.

Wearing their black service dress uniforms, Archer and T'Pol were ushered in by an aide. They seated themselves across a table from Soval and V'Lar. Soval was the first to speak.

"Captain, Commander, it is agreeable to see you. May I offer Vulcan's and my personal condolences on the Romulan Star Empire attack," he said.

"Thank you, Ambassador," said Archer.

"Have many died?" asked V'Lar.

"In Bozeman, Montana it is estimated almost thirty thousand died. The list of causalities in space is in the hundred," Archer answered.

"Has the President of the United Earth declared war yet?" asked Soval.

"He intends to speak tonight. I have no access to his speech, but Starfleet is preparing for a war," answered Archer.

"I see," said Soval.

T'Pol noticed a grimness to Soval. She could tell he was greatly troubled by something.

"Captain, your judgment on the matter we are about to share with you. It is a delicate subject, one wish we hope you will handle delicately," said Soval.

"Ambassador, all I can do is tell you that I want the best for both Vulcan and Earth and I won't make any snap judgments," said Archer.

"The subject we most broach is the Rihannsu," said V'Lar.

T'Pol cocked her left eyebrow at Rihannsu. It was the time of Surak and the Great Schism. She looked at Archer.

"The Rihannsu refers back to the time of Surak and the Great Schism. In Vulcan the word means _The Declared_. These were the Vulcans who rejected the teachings of Surak and embraced emotion and war. Their exodus from Vulcan is considered the time when Vulcan split into two races, Vulcan and Rihannsu," T'Pol explained to him.

"The Romulans are the Rihannsu," Soval stated.

"What? You mean that you and the Romulans are the same," said Archer.

"No, Captain, we are not the same. We are cousins. There is difference in our races, as they have evolved differently from Vulcan," said Soval.

"Captain, trust me when I tell you that we have similarities in appearance, but we are as different as a Human and a Klingon," said V'Lar.

"Can you understand why we do not want this information to be common knowledge?" asked Soval.

"It would make it impossible for some to trust Vulcans," said Archer.

"Exactly," replied Soval.

"Okay, I understand that much. Now why am I here?" asked Archer.

Vulcans honored privacy and secrets were an offshoot of privacy. Now Archer found himself once again being allowed into the private world of the Vulcans. He carried the katras of Surak and Syrann and found the Kir'Shara. Now he was being given even more Vulcan secrets.

"The top aide to Administrator V'Las was a Romulan. They have infiltrated parts of Vulcan society," said Soval.

"The V'Shar is rooting them out, Captain," said V'Lar.

"Did one of these Romulans leak intel about our facilities?" Archer asked with anger in his voice.

"We fear so," said Soval.

"I need to tell Starfleet about this," said Archer.

"You could do that, Captain, or you could allow us to root out these imposters, question them, and see if we can gain intelligence from them, which we will share with you," said Soval.

"We will also share strategic intelligence we already have on Romulans with you, Captain," said V'Lar.

"This sounds like bribery," said Archer.

"It is diplomacy," said Soval.

Archer looked at T'Pol. He wanted her opinion because he trusted her.

"T'Pol, what do you think I should do?"

"Captain, the past cannot be changed. The attack has taken place. Future intelligence on the Romulans could assist us, though, but one thing will damage us and that is if the connection between Vulcans and Romulans is exposed, and Vulcan is no longer trusted in the coalition. If Vulcan is ostracized the coalition will be weakened and the Romulans position strengthened," T'Pol offered him.

Archer took a deep breath then exhaled it slowly. The coalition needed Vulcan.

"I'll tell Starfleet that you are doing an internal investigation to see if information was leaked to the Romulans. I won't expose your relationship with the Romulans, but I will tell them that you will be sharing important and pertinent information on the Romulans. How does that sound?" asked Archer.

"Captain, you once again surprise me," said Soval.

"Soval, I surprise myself," he added.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

**Five weeks since the Romulan Attack**

Rolling his tongue in his cheek, Trip stood in the observation lounge of the Mars Orbiting space dock. Through the plasma glass he stared at the newly reconfigured _Enterprise_ with the extended Engineering section and nacelles now attached to the new section. From the grey metallic paint to refit saucer section that he knew all too well, this will always be his first ship. It was a bigger ship now, but it was still the _Enterprise_. He knew that today they were starting to work on the warp engine and he wanted to be around in case they needed his expertise.

"You're looking good, Captain Tucker," he heard a familiar voice say.

He turned around to see Lieutenant Anna Hess standing there in a grey jumpsuit duty uniform. He self-consciously pulled at his jacket. She was an engineer, but in many ways he no longer felt like one. He had been spending so much time working on the big picture he hadn't work on an engine with his hands in too long.

"So you're behind them mucking around with my engine and changing my ship," she said.

"I'm one of those behind it," grinned Trip. "And, remember it was my ship before it was yours."

"Then you can help fix it," said Hess with a sly smile crossing her lips.

A big smile crossed his face as he ran his right hand through his dirty blonde hair. He couldn't wait to get his hands dirty.

"From what I've heard you don't need the help, Anna. You've become a great engineer," he said.

"That's because one Charles Anthony Tucker III taught me almost everything he knows. Now are you going to join me in Engineering so that we can fine tune and this upgraded engine?" she smiled.

"I need to change my clothes. This new uniforms weren't meant to get dirty," said Trip as he held up his hands to emphasize he was wearing a service duty uniform.

"I think we can find something that fits you and has proper rank insignia," Hess said.

"Then I'll be glad to give you a hand," he said. "It's been too long since I worked on an engine."

"I noticed that you had that lean and hungry look," remarked Anna Hess with smirk.

STSTST

Valdore sat in his cell on the penal planet of A'hriah. In his mind he reviewed his greatest mistake. As a senator, he argued against further expansion and against re-unification with Vulcan. He called for the Romulan Star Empire to build up trade and develop treaties rather than be in a constant state of war. The senate removed him from his position as a senator. This was his first mistake.

He attempted to correct his mistake by returning to the military where he had a sterling reputation as a strategic thinker. There he headed the drone ship project which partial came from an idea he had. It was going to allow them to unsettle and disrupt the political atmosphere of the coalition between Earth, Teller, Andoria, and Vulcan. The fact that Coridan, Krios Prime, and Rigel were also interested in the coalition made it important to stop it from growing. Unfortunately, the drone ship failed. The Aenar he used failed him in the end, and he underestimated his true enemy, Starfleet.

Now he was in a prison cell on a hell planet. His wife Darule, daughter Vela, and son Vool were outcasts living just above Reman on the social ladder. He loved his family. It tore him up to think of them suffering because of his mistakes. If he ever got another chance to endear himself to Praetor Neral, he would wage war, destroy planets, or conquer people for the Empire, for his family.

So there he sat in his dank cell in a red jumpsuit. There was no chair, only a small bed. They gave him nothing to read, so he spent all his time with his thoughts. Four times a day he left his cell: for breakfast, lunch, exercise, and dinner, otherwise he spent all his time in his cell hoping for another chance.

Valdore was roused from his thoughts as he heard footsteps walking done the corridor. The footsteps stopped in front of his door and he heard his door unlocked, opened, and Vrax walking into his cell. It was First Senator Vrax, who was the most vocal in calling for his time in jail. He was the man responsible for him being in the cell and for his family's misfortune. Valdore looked at Vrax and noticed the robes and insignia on his collar. He was now First Consul Vrax. One had their fortune rise, so another has to have their fortune fall. It was the Romulan way.

"Valdore, I may be able to get you out of this hell hole, as the Empire still has a use for you," said Vrax.

"Does it need me to die?" he asked.

Vrax smiled. Valdore stood up and walked to the corner of the room.

"A task force was sent to Earth in order to destroy their starship building capacity. They failed. Some damage was done, but not enough," said Vrax.

"The commander in charge, what happened to him?"

"He was relieved of duty and demoted to Sublieutenant," said Vrax.

"He didn't end up one of my neighbors," said Valdore.

"He wasn't the esteemed Valdore," said Vrax.

"Why are you here, First Consul Vrax?"

"We need someone to run the war against Earth and its coalition. I've argued that you would be the perfect candidate," said Vrax.

Valdore laughed. It was a chuckle but a full body laugh that exited him. Vrax waited until he regained control to continue.

"Valdore don't underestimate yourself," he said. "You are brilliant. The drone ship was a brilliant idea that happened to fail because of Jonathan Archer and an unstable Aenar. This war will need a brilliant admiral running it, one who can outthink our enemy."

"Tell me, First Consul, there is yet another reason why you have chosen me. What is it?"

Valdore walked over to Vrax, who stood up. Vrax was a good size Romulan, but he was dwarfed by Valdore in height and size.

"If you fail this time, it is death for you," said Vrax.

"But an honorable death and one which allow my wife and children to live well after I am gone," he said then he smiled. "My family's honor will be restored and their place in society. I would accept that death."

"I knew you would," said Vrax. "So, Admiral Valdore, shall I make arrangements for you to leave this damned place?"

"Yes, First Consul," said Valdore. "I would be honored to serve the Empire once again."

"That is what I wanted to hear," smiled Vrax.

STSTST

Engineering on the _Enterprise_ was a much larger space with the warp core now standing three decks tall instead lying on its side. Along with ten other engineers, Trip and Hess with tool belts around their waists were knee deep in working on the first stage plasma accelerator, as well as making sure that seals for the plasma conduits were up to Trip Tucker's standards.

Trip was well up in a Jefferies tube, while Hess was on the ladder ready to hand him a diagnostic scanner. He couldn't believe how much he missed getting his hands dirty and working with equipment. This was what he was best at, though he hadn't hated the position he held all these months.

Without being announced, Archer and T'Pol entered the Engineering. A pod had given them an exterior tour of the ship and now Captain Archer wanted to see the new Engineering section up close. He was dying to get his ship out of space dock and his arse back in the command chair.

He had been impressed with the new Shuttle Bay and new shuttles, as well as the Cargo Bays. The _Enterprise_ seemed to have more space. Of course, it would now carry a crew of 120 to 143. He and T'Pol stopped near the ladder. They watched as Hess handed up the equipment to an unseen maintenance engineer.

"So, Lieutenant, what have they done to my ship?" he asked her.

Hess was startled to hear the Captain's voice. She quickly came down the ladder.

"Sir, I think warp 6 is in our future," she said.

Archer smiled then the smile became a smirk.

"Of course, Kelby hasn't gotten his hands on the engine yet," he said.

"I believe Lieutenant Commander Kelby has put in for a transfer," said T'Pol.

Up in the Jefferies tube Trip heard T'Pol's voice and a tidal wave of emotion it him. Sadness was brought on by the thoughts of baby Elizabeth, while a mix of disappointment and anger it him over their failed relationship. He still loved her, but he was also angry with her now.

T'Pol felt these emotions through their bond. It surprised her at the depth of the emotions and the immediacy in which she felt them. She looked up at the Jefferies Tube. _Trip._

"I wonder if I can get Trip back as my chief engineer," remarked Archer.

Hess smiled at this thought. She loved working with Charles Tucker III. The man had a genius with engines that she had never seen before. Of course, it didn't hurt that he was a good looking man with a winning personality, either.

"Why don't you ask him, sir?" she said then she looked up at the tube and yelled. "Captain, come on down."

With great reluctance trip made his way out of the Jefferies tube and down the ladder. His grey jumpsuit uniform was smear with grease and hair was damp with sweat. He tried not to look at T'Pol, but he couldn't help it. She had her lost waif expression on her face as she stared at him. He tore his eyes off of T'Pol and looked at Jon.

"Your engine is in good hands, Jon," he said. "I heard you mention Kelby wants to transfer. If he does get it, I will endorse a promotion for Hess to lieutenant commander and chief engineer of the Enterprise. I think she's ready."

Hess broke out in a huge smile. She wanted to hug Trip held back.

Archer smiled. "Sounds good to me, Trip."

"Sir, I better get back to work," said Hess.

T'Pol stood with her hands behind her back watching and listening to the exchange. She wanted to pull Trip aside and talk to him, but she knew that it wasn't the right time. Trip looked at the chronometer on his right wrist.

"Seven hours is enough for me, Anna. I've got to get back to Earth. I have a dinner with Admiral Jefferies, but I'll be back tomorrow to help fine tune that engine."

"I look forward to it, sir," said Hess.

"Can we give you a ride back to Earth, Trip?" asked Archer.

"I borrowed the Admiral's yacht, Jon. If I didn't bring it back to him, I think he'd be a little pissed at me," said Trip. "Jon."

He nodded his head then he looked over at T'Pol.

"Commander," he said coolly with a nod.

Trip took off hustling out of Engineering. Jon looked at the departing back of Trip then over at T'Pol. He knew something was wrong between them, but he thought it best not to get involved. Nothing ever seemed to go easily for them.

STSTST

**ECS Cargo Depot, Vega IX.**

A highly lucrative trade route had developed over the years between the Vega Colony, Earth, and Draylax. The ECS had even invested in building an orbiting cargo depot. Over the years it had grown in importance as a drop off for ECS freighter allowing ships to share exchange cargo saving money.

In the operations hub, Carl Hudson, who was the Cargo Master, looked over his people at work. Three freighters just did a cargo exchange and left and now he was expecting another freighter in with food supplies. He had requested Starfleet presence and was told that squadron of six frigates headed there way. If everything went well they would be there within fifteen hours.

"Sir," one of his technicians called him over.

Carl walked over to his station.

"What is it, Mike?"

"I picked up a high concentration of tachyons for a second and then it disappeared. I was wondering if you ever saw anything like that," Mike enquired.

The older man looked over the shoulder of the younger man, who brought up a record of the reading. He had never seen anything like it.

"You know, Mike, forward that record to Starfleet so that they can spend the time and money investigating it. That's what they live for. We are in the business of making money," said Carl.

"Yes, sir," said Mike.

Carl strolled back towards his command pit. He was about to sit down when he heard the words he didn't want to hear.

"Sir, ship are de-cloaking off our bow," called out one of the technicians.

Six Birds of Prey de-cloaked. They had one order and that was to destroy everything, the depot, the colony, ships, and people. The Birds of Prey opened fire.

STSTST

"Damn it," Admiral Gardner exclaimed.

The conference room had Admiral Roddenberry, Admiral Gardner, Admiral Jefferies, Captain Tucker, Captain Archer, Commander T'Pol, Soval, and V'Lar seated around the table.

"The frigates got there to find nothing but debris, ruins, and death," said Gardner. "ECS is calling for more protection for their freighters and depots and the colonies are now starting to panic."

"Vega Colony needs to be rebuilt," said Roddenberry.

Gardner looked at him like he was an idiot. Now was the time to rebuild colonies. They should be setting up a defense against Earth.

"Between the attack on Earth and this attack, President Samuels has called for a fortress Earth policy making Earth protection the primary duty of Starfleet. We have already started to set up orbital defensive arrays and will have a Battle Group which consists of 25 starships led by Rear Admiral Williams to protect Earth," explained Roddenberry. "Becoming defensive does not win a war."

"I agree with the President," said Gardner.

Archer liked Gardner, but he knew that the man had just signed his own reassignment from Chief of Ops to some insignificant department. He looked over at the Vulcans who sat stone faced and listened.

"The Corp of Engineers is going to build a Starbase instead of depot. We will have two squadrons and five of the border cutters assigned to the Starbase. We have also let the appropriate agencies know about this and let it be known that Starfleet will escort a convoy of new settlers to Vega. President Samuels is playing politics, but we need to play chess. Captain Tucker, how do we stand with fleet production?"

"Six Daedalus-Class have left dock and another five will be ready within three days. I expect ten a week to be ready after that then we can start building new ones. The production for new Daedalus-Class ship should be twenty a month," he said.

"That many. I can't believe it," said Gardner.

Jefferies rolled his eyes but kept quiet. He'd like Trip handle it.

"The Daedalus-Class is now designed for mass production. We can turn them out like an assembly line because of their cookie cutter design," Trip lectured him. "We'll be able to do better than twenty a month, if we get the civilian shipbuilding infrastructure involved, but that's above my pay grade."

Roddenberry smiled, "What about the NX?"

"The _Enterprise_ and _Columbia_ are done being refitted and upgraded and two new NX are on-line, the _Endeavour_ and _Atlantis_," he stated. "The _Intrepid_ and _Pegasus_ have started construction."

"When will the _Pegasus_ be ready?" asked Roddenberry.

"Two months, sir," said Trip.

"Start looking for a replacement for your current position, so that you can start getting your new command into shape. Don't worry about finding a XO or Tac and Ops Officer. Since you are a newbie captain of a starship, I intend to have them handpicked for you," said Roddenberry.

"Yes, sir," replied Trip.

Archer smiled at the thought getting back into space. The fact that he'd have his own command and his own ship didn't even hit him yet. T'Pol heard this and had to suppress anxiety. What if she had waited too long to speak to him about their bond? He was getting his own command and once that happened it would become harder and harder to keep track of him. She knew Trip too well. He'd be the type of captain to risk his life too easily. His XO would have to temper his willingness at self-sacrifice.

"Now, Ambassador Soval, you are here in this meeting for two reasons," said Roddenberry, who had taken over leaving Gardner to listen.

"We have a treaty to sign and I request for Ambassador V'Lar to be transported back to Vulcan in a Starfleet starship with a Captain who is able to act as a diplomat. Vulcan would like to build a joint Starbase in Vulcan space and have it open to all Coalition starships," stated Soval.

His simple statement, though, sent a shockwave through the conference room. The Vulcans were opening up and willing to share. Now they didn't say they would share their technology, but patience was always needed when dealing with Vulcans.

Roddenberry looked over at Archer. He waited for the man to speak up.

"When do you want the _Enterprise_ to be ready for the trip to Vulcan?" asked Archer.

Roddenberry looked at Soval, who in turn stared at V'Lar.

"I only need a few days, Captain. How about on Friday?" she asked.

"That should give us enough time to get the _Enterprise _ready," smiled Archer.

"You may be tied up at Vulcan for weeks, Captain," warned Soval.

"I always wanted to see Fire Plains and the Voroth Sea," smirked Archer.

"That can be arranged, Captain," said V'Lar with amusement in her eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Admiral T'Kart didn't want to share information with the Humans about the Rihannsu, but he had been ordered to by the High Councilor T'Pau. He stood in front of Captain Archer, Vice Admiral Thaddeus Black, the Vice Chief of Ops, Commander Stacy Hale, V'Lar, T'Pau, and Councilor Kuvak.

"According to V'Shar, the Romulans starships top speed is warp 5.5. Their cloaking device takes a great deal of energy. In order to have cloaking devices on their starship they have sacrificed speed," he stated.

"Weapons?" asked Black.

Black could see that T'Kart didn't want to tell them much, so he wasn't about to waste too many words on him.

"Disruptor cannons. They are very powerful. Some of their starships carry antiquated nuclear torpedoes. They use them on planets they wish to make an example of," answered T'Kart.

"Besides the Birds of Prey what class ship do they have?" asked Archer.

"A warship. It carries a crew of close to three hundred. The V'Shar has intelligence that they are building a larger starship along with fighters," he answered.

"Do we have an estimate when that starship will be fielded?" asked Kuvak.

"An estimate of two years was given, Councilor," said T'Kart.

"Someone should tell Trip that so he can get us started on one," said Archer.

Black nodded then made a writing motion to Hale, who took out her PADD and made a note. Archer was impressed by Black. In peacetime the man was difficult and a pain in the ass for rules and regulations, but during a war, he appeared to be a man of action who had goals set and was willing to think outside the box to achieve them.

"How big is their fleet?" asked Archer.

"Form the information we possess they have five fleets. Each consists of 155 Starships and 150 support ships. On top of the five fleets they have another reserve of 300 starships which close to Romulus and Remus and their conquered worlds," he answered.

"Now can someone explain these Reman to me?" asked Black.

"They are a mutated offshoot of the Romulans. They are used as shock troops, miners, and servants. Physically, they are stronger than a Vulcan. They appear to be subservient to the Romulans, even though they show signs of telepathy, which the Romulans show no sign of," explained T'Kart.

"Shock troops. That usually means breaching pods and attempts to take ship," said Black, who then looked over at Hale. "Note, we need to up the presence of marines on all ships."

"Yes, sir," said Hale.

"Admiral, thank you," said T'Pau. "You may leave now."

"Yes, Councilor," he said then stiffly exited the meeting room.

T'Pau now looked at Archer then Black. She still reminded Archer of an elf in her looks, but he knew that she had an iron will and fierce intelligence. How else would someone as young as her come to be the leader of a planet.

"We agree to the starbase being built and it be open to all members of the coalition. We even agree to Starfleet permanently have a presence of starships in Vulcan space. Now that our fleet is in disarray with many captain and crews relinquishing their positions in order to study the Kir'Shara, we will need assistants in training new crews. I am not willing to send Vulcans to Starfleet Academy, but I am willing to allow some trainers on Vulcan," said T'Pau.

"I can arrange for that," said Black.

"Councilor Kuvak, are you willing to oversee a training program?" T'Pau asked him.

"I am more than willing. I have found interactions with Humans stimulating," he said.

T'Pau nodded. She then stood up.

"I believe this meeting is adjourned."

STSTST

T'Pol was in her quarters attempting to meditate. For the past months she had been blocking out Trip when she meditated in order to make sure he didn't enter her white room. Now, though, she felt a desire to allow him to enter. Since she had trouble speaking with him in the real world, then why not have a conversation in her white room.

She took a deep breath and started to clear her mind. As she started to settle into a meditative state, someone buzzed her quarters. She exhaled then opened her eyes.

"Enter," she said calmly.

Lieutenant Sato entered her quarters. She had a PADD in her right hand and carried a cup of tea in her left hand.

"I brought you a cup of mint tea for interrupting you," said Hoshi.

She walked over and handed T'Pol the tea. T'Pol took it and sampled it. It was refreshing.

"Yes, Lieutenant," she said.

"I need help with the Vulcan language it. My Vulcan is passable, but Captain Archer insists on giving his speech to the Vulcan High Council in Vulcan and I want to make sure the proper word is chosen for the translation from English to Vulcan," said Hoshi.

"I see," said T'Pol.

Gracefully, with a cup of tea in her hand she stood up and then motioned Hoshi to sit at her desk.

"You have the speech?"

"Yes," said Hoshi then handed her the PADD. "It has the English version he wrote and my Vulcan translation."

"I shall read both versions and give you my opinion," said T'Pol.

"Thank you, Commander," said Hoshi.

They went over the Vulcan translation then Hoshi found herself comfortable in T'Pol's presence which was unusual. She decided to broach a more personal subject with her.

"Commander, may I ask you a question?" she asked.

"Yes."

"You know that Lieutenant Commander Reed and Captain Tucker became close friends."

"They appeared to have above average friendship."

"Right," said Hoshi. "You see Malcolm never really had a true friend before. He had co-workers, acquaintances, and a whole lot of ex-girlfriends, but Trip was his first real friend. It was because of Trip that Malcolm became friends with me and Travis, but lately I noticed he had pulled back again. I know he misses Trip's camaraderie, but I don't want him to lose that connection with people. I was thinking of having another birthday party for him, since it's almost his birthday. Do you think I should?"

"Are you afraid that Mister Reed will want to leave the _Enterprise_?" she asked.

"I don't think so. He's loyal to Captain Archer," said Hoshi.

"I see," said T'Pol then she thought about her answer for a moment. "I believe you should have what I think is called a surprise party for Mister Reed. Show him that he still has close friends on the _Enterprise_."

"Too bad I can't invite Captain Tucker," smiled Hoshi.

"Yes, it is too bad that Captain Tucker cannot attend," said T'Pol.

Hoshi heard an undertone of sadness in T'Pol's tone. It would unnoticeable to anyone else on board the ship, but being the linguist she was Hoshi was able to hear even the slightest inflection.

"Do you miss Captain Tucker, Commander?" Hoshi asked her.

T'Pol raised her right eyebrow at the question. She admired Hoshi's perceptiveness but not her boldness.

"He was a valuable member of this crew," she said.

"He was more than that, though, wasn't he?" smiled Hoshi.

There was a moment of awkward silence then Hoshi prepared to leave.

"When we have the party for Malcolm, I hope you attend," she said then left.

T'Pol placed the mug of tea down on her desk beside her computer then she sat back down on the floor and resumed the lotus position. She definitely was in need of meditating now.

STSTST

Wearing a duty uniform, Trip walked the corridor towards the Bridge. He had yet to be assigned an XO or a Tactical Officer, both of which Admiral Roddenberry said he would supply. What he did have was a first rate chief engineer in Commander Alexander Rostov, the older brother of Chief Petty Officer, Engineering, Michael Rostov. Before Entering the Bridge, he pulled at his short jacket then brought his right index finger up to his collar and ran it around his jersey. He took two deep breaths, exhaled then entered the Bridge of the _Pegasus_.

"Captain on the Bridge," announced Commander Rostov, who was working on the newly designed XO Station.

Everyone came to attention causing Trip to wave them off with sigh.

"Alex," he said as he approached his command chair.

"Yes, sir," responded Rostov.

"Until I get a permanent one, you'll be my temporary XO," he told him.

"I'd rather be in Engineering, sir," he said.

"You will be. Get the COB to assign a yeoman to you and for me to handle most of the paperwork. I doubt I'll need a XO on the Bridge for our warp trials and shakedown cruise," he said.

"Yes, sir," said Rostov.

"You are the second officer to begin with," Trip said with some guilt. He remembered that it ended up being a life saver when T'Pol became Archer's First Officer all those years ago.

Trip sat down on his command chair. He personally designed it. He knew that unlike Archer he'd try to stay in the chair during a crisis. There was always something disconcerting to having the captain all over the Bridge during a battle.

He had direct comm links to Engineering, Infirmary, and ship-wide. There was also the two buttons to record his Captain's log and personal log. He kept the chair comfortable, ergonomic, and simple. Beside the command chair was the XO Station which received summary information from Tactical Operations, Engineering, Environmental, and Science. He wanted his XO to have information at his fingertips.

"Has Captain Hawkins and his marines reported on board yet?" he asked Rostov.

"No, sir. They are expected within the hour," replied Rostov.

"How many fire teams will be under his command again?" asked Trip.

He knew that answer but he wanted to see if his XO knew.

"Twelve, Captain. That's forth-eight men, plus a gunnery sergeant and the captain it gives us fifty marines on board," said Rostov.

"For someone who was prepared to be the chief engineer only, you're doing pretty well, Alex," said Trip.

"I am the second officer, sir," he said then he grinned. "Okay, I admit it. I was studying up on some of this information last night."

"Well done," said Trip.

"Assign someone temporarily to Tactical Ops," Trip said then he stood up. "You have the conn. I'm going down to Engineering to see how things are."

Rostov looked at him and was unable to suppress an expression of annoyance. Trip smirked.

"Captain's privilege, Commander Rostov," said Trip.

"Sounds more like you still wish you were chief engineer, sir," said Rostov.

In a low whisper, Trip leaned in and said, "You may have a point there."

STSTST

The _Columbia_ along with four frigates the _Yamamoto, Denmark, Longmire,_ and _Halsey_ and one Daedalus-Class starship the _Renegade_ were on their way to Terra 10, which was located Arachna Nebula. For many years Terra 10 preferred to have no contact with Earth or Starfleet and only nominal contact with Earth Cargo Service importing and exporting commerce annually. With the new Romulan threat they contacted Earth for protection.

The plan was for the _Columbia_ to leave the frigates and _Renegade _at Terra 10 for protection. Starfleet Corp of Engineers was slated to build a FOB, forward operating base, which was a smaller version of a starbase within two months. The Andorians even agreed to send starships in support to Terra 10 if attacked.

Commander Shran was on the _Columbia_ as an observer. Hernandez and Shran were in her Ready Room discussing the Imperial guard and Starfleet when comm came in from Admiral Gardner for her and Shran. She took it in her Ready Room on her computer.

"Yes, Admiral," she said.

"Is Commander Shran with you?"

"Yes, sir," she said then moved the screen so Shran could be seen.

"Admiral, it's a pleasure."

"I've been tasked to see if you are willing to take a position with us like T'Pol did as a liaison acting as XO," queried Gardner.

Shran smiled. His antennae perked up. He was bored as an observer spending his time telling war stories.

"I would gladly take a similar position," said Shran.

"I'll have your orders forwarded to the Enterprise," said Gardner then he addressed Hernandez. "When you're done dropping off the Renegade and frigates you are to continue to Vulcan to drop off Shran."

"Yes, sir," said Hernandez.

"Gardner out," he said and the screen went blank.

"XO," smiled Shran. "Now that is much better than observer."

STSTST

Archer was angry. Storming down the corridor towards his Ready Room, he was a man you didn't want to get in the way of. He had received orders from Starfleet and he didn't like them. Although the orders came from Gardner he could tell that Roddenberry and Beckett's hands were involved.

He arrived at his Ready Room, entered, walked over to his desk, and pressed the comm button.

"Hoshi, get me Admiral Gardner," he ordered.

"_Yes, sir_."

Calming himself down, he sat in the chair behind his desk. He knew the chances of getting these orders overturned were minimal but he had to take a chance.

"_Sir, I have Admiral Gardner for you_."

He sat forward and pressed the comm button.

"In my Ready Room," he said curtly then he faced his computer and waited for Gardner to appear.

"_Yes, sir." _

It took a moment but Gardner appeared. The man looked older and tired. Archer relaxed. He knew that Beckett preferred someone else in the role of Chief of Ops.

"Sir, I received the orders and transfers," he said.

"Good," sighed Gardner. "Don't argue with me about this, Jon. I don't like it, but it is the way that Beckett and Roddenberry want it. There is nothing I can do."

"Sir, there has to be something that can be done," said Archer.

"Yes, we follow orders," said Gardner. "How did your speech go?"

"The Vulcans appeared to like. It's hard to know since they don't applaud. It's considered rude," said Archer.

"Going to the theatre on Vulcan must be some evening," smiled Gardner. "Gardner out."

Archer stared at the screen for a few minutes. All he could do was follow orders. Okay, he'd follow orders but he didn't have to like them, especially when they involved his ship. He pressed the comm button.

"Hoshi, tell Commander T'Pol that I need to talk to her about personnel matter."

"_Yes, sir_."

Archer looked at Porthos, who was asleep in the corner of his office. Every now and then he found himself jealous of his dog. All he did was play, eat, and sleep. Sometimes that sounded like a much better life than the one he had.

STSTST

The _Pegasus_ was ready to leave dock. Trip knew that he had brass in the observation area of the dock watching his ship. The Pegasus was so far the largest NX built and would be for some time since the next NX's design was based on the _Atlantis_ and not _Pegasus_. It carried a crew of 250 and could carry 500 or more if needed and the Cargo Bays were converted into barracks. It carried latest shuttles with shields, plasma cannon, and warp one capability. In terms of firepower no ship in the fleet had more, or would have more: ten phase cannons, ten torpedo tubes, and two experimental quad-barrel EM Gatling rail cannons.

Trip sat down in the command chair. Rostov was in Engineering where he belonged. He scanned his Bridge. All stations were crewed: Comm, Tactical Ops, Environmental, Engineering, Science, and Helm. They were ready. He looked at the Helmsman Lieutenant Jarrod Hoyt.

"Mister Hoyt, break moorings and take us out of dock," he said.

"Aye, aye, sir," said Hoyt.

"Once we are free of the Sol system set a course for Vulcan. Let's give warp 6.8 a try, shall we?" smiled Trip.

"Sounds good, sir," said Hoyt.

Trip pressed the comm button on his chair to Engineering.

"Rostov, I think we are going to start at warp 6.8," he said.

"Sir, I say we try warp 7.2. I know this engine can do it,' said Rostov.

"We'll get there, Alex. Before we get to Vulcan we'll break all the records," smiled Trip.

STSTST

The _Pegasus_ had reached a maximum speed for an hour of warp 7.4. It was a record. Trip was a happy captain during his short shakedown cruise. His orders now were to rendezvous with the _Enterprise_ at Vulcan where he would pick up his XO and tactical officer. With all their speed trials, they made record time to Vulcan.

"Ensign Sing, contact Vulcan Command and ask for permission or us to orbit," said Trip.

"Yes, sir," Aurora Sing replied.

"Once we have permission put us in orbit, Hoyt," Trip said.

"Aye, aye, sir."

Trip stood up. Rostov was on the Bridge because he had been told to be on the Bridge. He looked over at the commander, who seemed impatient.

"Can't wait to get back to your engines?" he asked him.

"Yes, sir," smiled Rostov.

"Permission granted, sir," said Sing.

"XO, you have the comm. I believe I am beaming over to the _Enterprise_," he said.

The Pegasus had the latest version of the transporters. Trip had such faith in them that he had two transporter rooms on the _Pegasus_. He dematerialized on the _Pegasus_ and re-materialized on the _Enterprise_ where Malcolm was waiting for him.

"Mal," he said and extended his right hand.

The two men shook hands. Malcolm couldn't suppress a big smile.

"It's good to see you, sir," he said.

"I missed you, Mal," he said.

"Captain Archer, Commander T'Pol, and Commander Shran are waiting for you in his Ready Room," said Malcolm.

"Shran? He's on board," said Trip.

"Oh, yes, he's on board," grinned Malcolm.

The two men exited the Transporter Room and headed to the Ready Room. When they reached their destination, Malcolm joined Trip in the Ready Room. Trip immediately noticed T'Pol standing by Archer's desk. His pulse quickened. In his eyes she was the most stunning female he had ever seen. It was hard to think how badly they failed in their relationship.

"Captain Archer," he said.

"Captain Tucker," smiled Archer. "I have the orders here for your XO and tactical ops officer."

Trip looked over at Shran who was wearing a Starfleet uniform. Was he going to be his XO? The thought horrified him.

"Commander T'Pol, are your bags packed?" Archer asked her.

"Yes, Captain."

"Lieutenant Commander Reed and yours?"

"Yes, sir," said Malcolm.

"Trip, I regrettably give you your XO and tactical ops officer," said Archer.

Trip looked at T'Pol. With as blank an expression as she could manage she stared back at him and then said, "Captain, I am under your command."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Trip was angry, but there was nothing he could do about it. Oh, he could have stopped Jonathan Archer when he said T'Pol was his XO and interjected – she can't become my XO because I've slept with her and it ended badly. His reputation was bad enough with alien women and T'Pol was known as the best XO in the fleet. No, he just had to keep quiet and follow orders and hope that he and T'Pol could get along.

Since he didn't want anyone to know just how angry, he had Rostov show Malcolm and T'Pol to their quarters, while changed into active wear and headed to the gym. When he entered the gym, some marines were using the ring for hand to hand combat practice. There was a group of crew performing yoga, a couple using the heavy bags, and the treadmills unused. He chose some time on the treadmill.

Setting the treadmill for a good running pace and the timer for forty minutes, Trip started. As he began his hard run, he suddenly felt burning sensation at the back of his head. He reached back to check if his hair was on fire, but it wasn't. The burning sensation continued, so he looked behind him to see T'Pol standing at the other end of the gym glaring at him with a cold icy stare. Trip was taken aback by this. He stumbled was running on the treadmill, tripped, and then fell knocking himself unconscious and causing all exercise in the gym to stop and have people rush to his aid.

T'Pol icy veneer melted and her eyes softened with concern. She rushed over to the unconscious captain of the _Pegasus_.

"Please move aside," she stated, as she waded her way towards him. "Call the CMO and tell him the captain is in need of medical treatment."

STSTST

Trip woke up in the Infirmary with a headache and a deep feeling of embarrassment. His CMO Dr. Edvard Rasmussen was seated at a table doing something on the computer and whistling to himself. Edvard was in his fifties. He had served on both Intrepid-class and Daedalus-class ships. Trip groaned then he sat up.

"Doc, I want out of here," he said.

Rasmussen turned off his computer, got up off the stool he was sitting on, and walked over to Trip. There was no sign of his number two, an internist named Dr. Anna Li, or any corpsman that usually could be found in the Infirmary.

"Listen, Captain, it is late and you had a good whack on the head giving you a concussion. Now, I could have placed you in Sickbay where currently we have a petty officer with Andorian flu and an Ensign with serious plasma burns from not playing attention to what they were doing in engineering, but I chose to keep you in the Infirmary," explained Rasmussen. "Be good and be quiet. Go back to sleep."

"I've been asleep. Now I want to get up," whined Trip. "And I'm hungry."

"I'll get you something to eat, but you are staying here until I release you," said Rasmussen, "but before I go I wanted to ask you a question – what caused your fall?"

Trip closed his eyes. The doctor wanted to see if there was an underlying medical reason for his fall.

"I got distracted," he answered.

"What sort of distraction?"

"I looked a woman while I was on the treadmill and tripped," growled Trip.

Rasmussen surprised him. Instead of a lecture or finger wag, he started to laugh. When he stopped he started towards the door.

"I get you food and I'll release you in the morning," said Rasmussen.

He left the Infirmary. Trip was a lone.

"I need to talk to my XO, but I really don't want to," he sighed to himself.

STSTST

Archer sat at the head of the table in his Mess with Shran and Hess as his guests. He looked over at his chief engineer. She was uncomfortable around the Andorian, who seemed to be able to make himself at home no matter where he was.

"The Imperial Guard has had run-ins with the Orion Syndicate. Andorian women are noted for their libidos, so they are a prize on the sex slave market," he explained.

Hess was blushing, which made Archer smile.

"You see they bring an added price on the market," said Shran.

"I hear Vulcan females bring extra, too," said Archer, knowing he was causing trouble.

"That because most males like a challenge and what is a greater challenge than an ice queen," growled Shran.

"Actually, they're more desert queen," smiled Archer.

Hess looked down at her plate, which consisted of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans. She played with her mashed potatoes hoping to stay out of the conversation.

"I forget that you like Vulcans," snapped Shran.

"I like T'Pol. She was a fine first officer," said Archer.

"And now I am your first officer, or XO, as some call it," said Shran.

Archer smiled at this. Shran picked up the glass of beer in front of him and raised it as a toast. Hess and Archer did the same.

"To the _Enterprise_," said Shran.

"The _Enterprise_," they repeated after Shran.

The three drank from their glasses. Shran emptied his, while Hess and Archer took only a sip.

"So, Pinkskin, what is our first mission?" asked Shran.

"I talked to Admiral Gardner earlier and he wants us to proceed with the frigates _Falkland_ and _Hermes_ to P'Jem where the Imperial Guards are setting up a starbase above the planet. We are to wait there until the Corp of Engineers ships show up and help with the building of the starbase. We are going to share the base," said Archer.

"I like that," said Shran. "We are working together. This is a good sign."

"You think so," said Archer.

"Yes," smiled Shran. "If the Imperial Guard is working with Starfleet then it shows a commitment to the coalition and a fear of these Romulans."

"They are an impressive enemy," said Archer.

"What better enemy to have," said Shran.

Archer smirked. He already dealt with enough impressive enemies, the Klingons and the Xindi. The thought of facing another he didn't relish.

STSTST

The Romulan Warbird _Aehallh, _which acted at the flagship for the Romulan Invasion Fleet. Admiral Valdore stood in the Command and Control room viewing the tactical display with the fleet disposition. His initial fleet consisted of 120 Birds of Prey, 75 Warbirds, and 70 support ships. If need be he could call on another fleet, but it would be best to impress the senate by conquering with what he had.

"Commander Sulok. I have a job for the Tal Shiar," he said.

"I'll get you their representative, sir," said Sulok.

He marked out of the Control and Command. Valdore took this time to take the holo-photo of his family out of his pocket. They had been moved to a seaside villa with servants and guards. As long as he succeeded or died nobly, their lives would flourish. He put the holo-photo away.

The Tal Shiar commander and Sulok entered the Command and Control.

"Sir, I give you Commander Kovil," said Sulok.

"Kovil," repeated Valdore then he turned and looked at the Tal Shiar representative. "I want to supplement the fleet with allies. Have you intel with perspective allies?"

"Yes, sir," said Kovil. "The Orion Syndicate can be bought as an ally. Also, the Nausicaan Brigands can be persuaded, as they respect power."

"They can be used to harass," Valdore remarked. "I want allies that can attack."

"The Xindi-Reptiles and Xindi-Insectoids blame the Humans for their fall in the Xindi hierarchy," said Kovil.

"Make them allies. Send out whatever agents you need. I want the Orion bought and the willing Xindi brought into our fleet," said Valdore. "We intend on setting up a base on Nausicaa. Once there we can convince them to join us."

"Why Nausicaa?" asked Kovil.

"It allows us a jumping off point to take Rigel and Coridan, which I hear have some of the fastest starships," smiled Valdore.

Kovil grinned. It was the self-satisfied grin of a sadist. Neither planet had the ability to stand up against them, which would meant that Starfleet would have to commit some of the meager forces to protect one of the systems. He guessed that they would go with Coridan. It was a brilliant move. His respect for Valdore grew.

"Commander Sulok, begin a mild invasion plan of Nausicaa. We want to impress them with our power, so they join us," said Valdore.

"I shall draw up a plan with the tactical experts," said Sulok.

"Make it so," smirked Valdore.

STSTST

T'Pol was having a difficult time suppressing her anger towards Captain Tucker. He refused to talk to her unless it was about ship's business. After his release from the Infirmary, he read her the riot act about any personal business passing between them. She attempted to broach the subject of their bond, but he shut her down and used his rank to keep the conversation shut down.

Now he was in the habit of inviting to Lieutenant Commander Reed and Commander Rostov to every meal along with her. As they prattled along having an inane conversation during dinner, she attempted to concentrate on not losing her tempter with her bind mate.

"I hate to say it but I can't wait to test the four quad barrel EM Gatling rail cannons. If R&D is correct about them, they'll take down anyone's shields after a few volleys," said Malcolm.

"They're a drain on the engines," said Rostov.

"That's the problem we have with them, Mal. Overuse of them will overtax the impulse engines and blow them out," said Trip, as he cut into a steak.

T'Pol slowly ate her salad. She looked up and stared into Trip's blue eyes and said, "What if they were tied to the warp engines instead of the impulse?"

Trip put his knife and fork down and stared back at T'Pol. Unexpectedly, he felt overwhelming frustration, which was odd because he knew he was feeling frustrated at the moment. He was feeling annoyed, but not frustrated. The wave of frustration passed.

"R&D tried that but couldn't make it work. You'd have to come up with a new intermix formula for the dilithium crystals," said Trip.

"Is that the only problem?" she asked.

"I think that was problem three of eight," interjected Rostov.

"T'Pol is right to think that warp engine could handle the power needs of the EM Gatling rail cannons," said Malcolm.

"If you want to investigate the possibility then I give you my permission, but no tests are to be made on the real warp engines without my knowledge and permission," said Trip.

Trip picked his knife and fork up and started to cut another piece of steak. T'Pol turned her attention back to her salad.

"So, Mal, care to be the first to pick a movie for movie's night?" asked Trip.

"Me, sir? You know I'm not a movie fanatic," said Mal.

"I know, but I thought you might pick something interesting," smiled Trip.

"I'll give it a try, sir," said Mal.

"I was thinking that you could pick the movie next week, T'Pol," said Trip.

T'Pol looked up at him with her right eyebrow cocked. Once again he felt extreme frustration and knew it was his own emotion.

"I would rather not," she said.

"It might help the crew get used to you as the XO of this ship," said Trip.

She continued to stare at him. In an act of defiance he stuck his tongue in his right cheek and rolled it around. T'Pol knew that he was at his most stubborn when he did this.

"I shall pick a movie, Captain," she said.

STSTST

Trip stripped out of his uniform and put it in the laundry bin. Next, he moved into his personal bathroom and turned on the shower. Once the water was hot enough he stepped up the water and let the water loosen his muscles. Slowly, his body started to relax. He started to relax. Trip closed his eyes.

"Charles," he heard T'Pol's voice say.

He opened his eyes and he was stark naked standing in a white room with T'Pol in the lotus position in front of lit candle. Immediately, he knew he was in her white room, her room where she went for meditation. There bond was still active.

"You've got to be kidding me," he said then he noticed that T'Pol was staring at him with her left eyebrow cocked and a slightly amused expression on her face.

Trip put a hand up to his head and rubbed his forehead.

"Why don't I have clothes on?" he asked.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Nausicaa would never be mistaken for a pleasure planet or vacation planet. It was a rough terrain for a rough people. In orbit above the planet a space dock had forty Nausicaan Brigand small ten men fighters moored. In orbit around their planet there was another ten of their medium sized frigates and their one Ravager Dreadnought. The rest of their fleet was in space searching for quarry.

In the ops of the space station the Nausicaan commander was bored as he stood watching his men work. Like most Nausicaans, he was tall, two meters, and possessed almost Klingon physical strength. Their distinct faces with their foreheads featuring a prominent bone structure and sharp tusks protrude from both sides of their mouths hid emotions.

"Sir, disturbances on our port side," one of his men said.

"Put it on the screen," he barked.

The technician did as he was told. At first all they saw was empty space, then, thirty Birds of Prey and fifteen Warbirds appeared. It was an impressive attack fleet, at least, to the Nausicaans. Suddenly, on the view screen appeared the calm countenance of Commander N'Vak, Fleet Commander.

"Nausicaans, this is Commander N'Vak of the Romulan Star Empire. We come in peace unless you chose to stand against then we shall decimate your fleet and enslave your people. Romulan Star Empire wishes to have you as allies not as pets. I give you thirty minutes to decide your fate," pontificated N'Vak.

STSTST

Before leaving her white room, Trip arranged for T'Pol to come to his quarters so that they could speak about the bond. Once he found himself back in his shower, Trip set out of the shower, dried himself off, and then found grey gym pants and gold tee shirt to put on. Exited the bathroom, he started to pace his quarters while he waited for T'Pol to arrive.

"Bonded. We're bonded. Well, that's just great," he fumed. "I told her it was over and she said that the bond would dissolve in time, but it hasn't. No, now it's a mating bond. We're married. I'm married."

He stopped pacing and thought about what he had just said.

"I'm married to T'Pol," he said to himself. "Shit, I'm married to T'Pol."

The door buzzer went off. She had arrived. Trip took a deep breath and then said, "Enter."

In her duty uniform, T'Pol entered his quarters. She appeared calm and undisturbed by what happened, which only made Trip angrier.

"Alright, since you seem to know what is going on here then you explain it," he barked.

"I presume you mean our bond," she replied coolly.

Trip contemplated calling security and having her arrested for a moment, but there were no charges in regulations to cover extremely pissed off CO. He took a calming breath, as she had taught him.

"Yes, I mean the bond," he said.

"Initially, I believe our bond was koon-ut-la, a betrothal bonding. If ignored these bonds can dissolve," she stated.

"So it wasn't a koon-et-el," he said.

"Koon-ut-la," T'Pol corrected him.

"Ah, hell, if you start correcting my mispronunciation of Vulcan words then this isn't going to go easy," growled a non-pacing Trip.

"I doubt it will go easily even if I ignore your trouble with the Vulcan language," said T'Pol.

Trip stopped pacing and glared at her.

"Continue," he barked.

"As it turned out our bond was a tel, a marriage bond, and because it was formed in the Delphic Expanse, and we continued to serve with each other for almost a year before you left for the _Columbia_," she said the word Columbia with disdain, "our bond became permanent. Because we both made assumptions and our relationship became a strain, we both suppressed the bond. It has been slowly re-emerging."

"How long have you known that it has been re-emerging?" he asked.

T'Pol cocked her right eyebrow then said, "Since you left the Enterprise to assist in the building of Starfleet's fleet."

"That long," he said in a low angry voice.

"I chose to suppress it, cutting you off from it, so that you could perform an important task," she told him.

"So, you have been suppressing the bond between us for my sake," he stated on the verge of a volcanic eruption.

"Considering your reaction it appears that I was right in my opinion that you would overreact to our bond," she said.

Trip took two steps towards T'Pol then he stopped. He had forgotten how much smaller than him she was, yet she was physically superior to him. Glaring into her brown eyes, he was struck at how much he still cared for her. She had managed to get deep under his skin and nothing so far had managed to remove her.

"Why did I appear in your white room tonight?" he asked.

"Because I stopped blocking our bond," she answered.

"Why did you stop blocking it?"

"You refuse to speak to me about anything that did not involve the ship. I grew impatient waiting for you to mature," she said.

"Mature?"

Trip was finally going to let loose. He was going to stop yelling until he felt satisfied which meant that they might be their when Alpha Shift reported in the morning, but this was a starship on the verge of a war, which mean the unexpected happened.

"_Captain, I have an emergency comm for Vice Admiral Black_," said the Gamma Shift Comm Officer.

Trip walked over to his desk and pressed the comm button.

"Route the comm into my quarters," he ordered.

"_Aye, aye, sir_."

Trip sat down at his desk and turned on the small view screen. Within a minute the visage of Vice Admiral Black appeared.

"Captain Tucker, sorry for disturbing your sleep," said Black.

"I wasn't asleep yet, sir."

"You probably won't want to sleep after I tell you this," said Black. "The Romulans have moved into Nausicaan space. They are setting up a base on Nausicaa itself and the Nausicaans have appeared to ally themselves with them."

"It's a good jumping off spot for invasion," said Trip.

"I know. We and the Andorian Imperial Fleet have already committed some starships to Coridan. Unfortunately, this leaves Rigel open to the Romulans."

"What do you want the _Pegasus_ to do?" Trip asked.

"I want you to head out and rendezvous with the _Columbia_. She and a small fleet are protecting the Proxima to Sherman's Planet to Earth shipping lanes."

"I'll have a new course set now," said Trip.

"I'd do that," said Black. "Black, out."

The screen went blank. Trip looked at T'Pol.

"We need to talk about things, but duty takes a priority," he said.

He was going to deal with the bond, but not until he was ready to deal with it. It might take days or months, but he was not going to talk about it again until he knew he could hold his temper and not give her the advantage.

"Agreed," she said. "I'll alert the helm to change course."

"Yes, XO, you do that," he said.

STSTST

Archer looked over his shoulder at Shran, who was giving Lieutenant Billings at Tactical a case of the nerves. Shran stood over Billings shoulder and watched at the young tactical officer went through weapons simulations.

"88% accuracy. In the Imperial Guard you would lose a rank for such shoddiness," said Shran.

"He isn't used to the new weapons upgrade, Shran," said Archer.

"Excuses, Captain. We need to be ready for battle and as your XO it is up to me to have the crew ready," said Shran.

Archer smiled. Shran was taking his new role of XO seriously. He seemed to be enjoying himself, though Archer had to admit that his style was a little tough on the crew.

"Check the yield of the new Mark I torpedoes," said Shran, "and, also, the phase cannons can be more efficient. Run diagnostics on them."

"Yes, sir," said Billings.

Shran walked over to the side of the command chair. Archer saw that he had a slight smile playing on his lips. The Andorian loved being on a ship. That was something that Archer could identify with.

"How long until with rendezvous with the _Atlantis_ and its attack fleet at Coridan?" he asked Archer.

"Fifteen hours. Coridan has the best warp engines but their fleet is fairly non-existent. Warp 7 engines but no real weapons and cruisers," he said.

"Mainly a small tactical fleet. I know. The Imperial Guard kept records on all potential enemies," said Shran.

"Who did they view an enemy?"

Shran smiled, "Everyone."

STSTST

Valdore gave the command of the Rigelian Attack Fleet to Commander V'Rak. The Rigelians were known for their trading not their fighting. It was decided that a commitment of fifty Romulan ships and twenty Nausicaan ships would be enough to invade, overwhelm, and subjugate.

"Commander V'Rak," Valdore spoke with his back turned to the room of commander, "I expect this to take no more than five days from invasion to subjugation. UE will send ships, as will the Andorians and even the Tellerites, but not enough to interfere with your invasion."

He stared out the plasma window from his Warbird at Nausicaa. It was an ugly planet, a planet unworthy of Romulan presence, but it was just the first of many. They would prevail, especially since his plan was to divide the coalition once he set up a presence in the Alpha Quadrant.

"Are we committing a smaller fleet to attack Earth or Andoria?" V'Rak asked.

Valdore turned and faced his commanders. He was by the tallest and most physically intimidating in the room. His was not an overly experienced fleet. The Senate and Praetor wanted him to succeed, but they wanted him to earn his success.

"Starfleet and the Andorian Imperial Guard have set up a substantive presence on Coridan. They are now in negotiations for Coridan to enter their coalition. This is an inconvenience which we will take advantage of. Starfleet barely has a single real fleet. They are overcommitted. I want the Nausicaan Brigands and Orions to attack freighter, transports, passenger linears throughout the Alpha Quadrant," stated Valdore.

Commander Rhiana, one of the few female commander, spoke up, "Can we trust these Nausicaans and Orions?"

"No, but that is why we are buying their loyalty. They are allowed to pillage whatever ships they attack. I am also offering them a merit system when attacking planets that will earn them rewards," he answered.

"Unseemly," she sniffed.

"Losing is unseemly. Now I know there is a Tellerite convoy of materials headed to an Earth colony called Sherman's Planet near the Klingon Border. I want this convoy destroyed by Orion and Nausicaan ships," he said. "Let Earth know that there troubles are growing."

"And this Sherman Planet?" asked Commander T'Loth.

"Leave it for now. We can deal with it later," said Valdore.

Commander V'Rak scanned the room quickly. He was going to lead the Rigelian Attack Fleet, which meant he was becoming Valdore's top commander. A target was being painted to his back and that mean he needed to start making allies to protect his flank.

"Commander T'Loth, you will be in charge of the Nausicaans," he said.

Surprise flashed across her face, as T'Loth looked at him.

"You'll act as my second in command," he said.

"Yes, Commander V'Rak."

"Very good, V'Rak," said Valdore with a smile. "Prepare to take Rigel."

STSTST

The _Pegasus_ along with the Daedalus-Class ships the _Relentless_, _Ares_, and _Hermes_ were given a patrol right by Captain Hernandez. Over the past week the Romulans invaded Rigel amidst countless attacks on freighters, convoys, and passenger linears by Orion and Nausicaan ships. Commerce was interrupted, ships looted, and people killed.

"Captain," Ensign Sing spoke up, "I've picked up a distress call from two Rigelian refugee Transports. They are under attack from Orion Pirates."

Trip took a deep breath.

"Let the Relentless, Ares, and Hermes know the coordinates of the transports and tell them we are headed there at emergency warp," he ordered Sing.

Next, he addressed the Helm, "Lieutenant Hoyt, set coordinates and prepare to go to emergency warp."

He tried to ignore it but he could feel concern for him through the bond. So far Trip had managed to keep their conversations about their bond short forestalling the much needed long conversation for another time. He knew that T'Pol now was letting the bond grow on its own without interference or subconsciously suppressing it. More and more he left her emotions and he knew that she felt his.

He punched his comm to Engineering, "Rostov. I want warp 7.2 for as long as you can give it to me."

"_Forty minutes tops, sir_," said Rostov.

"Only need it for ten minutes," he said then cut the connection.

"Mal, shields up and weapons hot. I want to go into this shooting," said Trip.

"Aye, Captain," said Malcolm.

"Sir, ready to jump to warp," said Hoyt.

"Jump it," ordered Trip.

The Pegasus shuttered as it entered warp and reached 7.2. T'Pol finished reviewing the readings on the XO console. She looked over at Trip.

"Captain, may I recommend we alert Captain Hawkins and his marines. They may have to help repel Orion raiders from the transports," she said.

"Good point, T'Pol," he said. "Let Hawkins know what is happening and what he might expect to do."

"I shall, Captain," she said.

It now through him off how she appeared to feel nothing on the exterior, but her inner emotions pooled up and were suppressed by her. During their short exchange he felt her react positively. He knew it was time to deal with their bond, their relationship, and their past, and all that was stopping it was his own stubbornness, which unfortunately was too often fooled by T'Pol's Vulcan nature. Trip took a deep breath and exhaled.

T'Pol was now in conversation with Captain Hawkins. He listened in until she broke the connection.

"T'Pol," he said.

"Yes, Captain."

"I'm sorry," he said softly then he whispered. "You are right and we need to talk honestly and openly."

He could feel a sense of joy come from their bond.

"I look forward to that, Captain."

"Okay, when this is over, we'll talk and I won't play any games," he said.

She nodded and returned her attention to her XO's console.

STSTST

The _Pegasus_ dropped out of warp and five Orion ships were still there. The transport ships no longer had any fight in them, so the Orions had sent boarders to loot the ships. Trip reacted immediately.

"Malcolm, open up on the ships. Bring down shields then target engines and weapons," he directed.

"Aye, aye, sir," Malcolm replied with relish.

The _Pegasus_ opened fired on the Orion ships. Alternating volleys of cannon fire with Torpedoes Malcolm rained hell on the Orion ships. He wanted to bring the shields down as quickly as possible.

"T'Pol, prepare the marines to beam over to the transport ships," he said.

"We will have to take down the shields in order to transport them over to the Rigelian ships," she said.

"I know," said Trip. "We'll time this so that our shields are only down for thirty seconds. The polarized hull will be able to handle the level of weapons the Orions have."

"I tell Captain Hawkins to report to the Transporter Rooms."

"Tell him to have his teams to report to both Transporter rooms and do it fast," he ordered.

"Yes, Captain."

"Mal, hit the retreating ship with the EM Gatling," he ordered.

"Yes, sir," said Mal.

Malcolm targeted the retreating ship himself and fired the EM Gatling rail cannon. The weakened shields were brought down and multiple hull breaches maimed the ship.

"Take out the engines and weapons," ordered Trip.

"Yes, Captain," replied Malcolm.

He targeted the cannons and sent the fire orders. The ship was completely disabled. One down and four to go.

STSTST

The _Relentless_, _Ares_, and_ Hermes_ arrived in time to mop up the action. The majority of the action was over by the time they arrived. The _Pegasus_ had everything under control. Captain Hawkins and five fire teams were on the two refugee transports clearing out the transports of all boarders. One of the Orion ship got away, while two were destroyed and two completely disabled. Trip let the Daedalus-Class ships police the Orion ships and take prisoners.

He stood in the Situation Room reviewing what the transport ships needed, while arranging for shuttles to picking up seriously injured male, female, and children refugees and transporting them to Cargo Bay 2 where a triage was sent up.

"One hundred and thirty seriously injured refugees are being transported to Cargo Bay 2," she said.

"The area should be set up to hold them until we reach Proxima. We can shift them to the colony once we arrive," he said.

"Yes, Captain," said T'Pol. "Ensign Sing has sent the report to Admiral Gardner."

Trip had been leaning over the smart table reviewing the needs of the transport ships in order to get them running again. He stood up straight then ran his right hand over his face. The _Pegasus _took little damage and no causalities.

"XO, send one engineering team and two DC teams to the Transport named _Heila_, and two engineering teams and two damage DC teams to other one. We need to get them up and running at least warp two or three so we can get them to Proxima," he said.

"I'll also have their food stores assessed. The refugees may be hungry," she said.

"Good job, T'Pol," he said then looked into her eyes.

He smiled. It had been a long time since he had smiled while looking at her. A wave of pleasure came from her side of the bond, while he unknowingly sent her affection. He couldn't help it. Deep down he still loved. He tried to fight it but he did. It was only a matter of time before he admitted it to her.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

**Command and Control Center, Starfleet Headquarter. **

While comm officers and technicians worked taking incoming comms and making outgoing comms, as well as tracking Starfleet, Vulcan, Tellerite, and Andorian starships, Admiral Gardner, Vice Admiral Black, Admiral Roddenberry, and Rear Admiral Williams gathered in the ops room. While the rest of admirals sat at a conference table, Gardner stood up at the front of the room and brought up the intel on the holographic projector. It showed a supply route the Romulans were using to funnel important supplies first to Nausicaa and then on to Rigel.

"Gentlemen, I give you the Romulan weakness," said Gardner.

"Supply line?" asked Black.

"Yes, their supply line. Right now they have ammunition, munitions, building material, fuel for impulse engines, and space mines running through this supply line. It is my intention to destroy their next delivery and cut off this route," said Gardner.

"What are we talking about in terms of force protection?" asked Black.

"Two Warbirds and ten Birds of Prey," said Gardner. "An Attack force of two NX and 18 Daedalus-Class ships led by Vice Admiral Hill meet the convoy and take it out."

"Really?" mumbled Black.

Roddenberry leaned forward in his chair and stared at Black.

"What's your opinion, Thad?" Roddenberry asked Black.

"I wouldn't commit twenty ships until we had more built. Right now the Andorians, Vulcans, Tellerites, and our ships are working as a loose coalition not as a cohesive fleet. The more we commit to an op the more we possible lose. Right now we should be working on bringing this coalition under on command," said Black.

"How do you feel about that?" Roddenberry asked Gardner.

"We can't sit on our haunches and play politics. We have to be aggressive. The Romulans are winning so far," said Gardner.

"Wars are made up of many battles and can last a long time," remarked Black.

Roddenberry sat back and observed his Chief of Ops and Vice Chief of Ops. They were many of different skills and he was now sure that the wrong man was in charge.

"Will I have Fleet Admiral Beckett's support on this?" asked Gardner.

"You are in charge of Ops, Admiral Gardner. It is your decision," said Roddenberry.

Gardner smiled. Black shook his head. Roddenberry decided that the outcome of this op would determine Admiral Gardner's fate as Chief of Ops.

STSTST

T'Pol and Trip sat on the floor of his quarters with a lit candle in between them. Both wore sweatpants and tee shirts, as if they were going to be working out. He had agreed that it was time let their bond grow and "see what happens." T'Pol explained that the first thing that needed to be done was to bring down all subconscious barriers. She suggested that a mind meld would assist in this. He reluctantly agreed.

Now sitting lotus style across from his XO and apparently his wife, Trip was getting second thoughts. The thought of a mind meld, exposing his inner thoughts and secrets didn't have that great an appeal.

"Are you ready, Charles?" T'Pol asked.

He took a deep breath then answered, "Yup. Let's get this done."

She shifted her body so that she was now beside him then she placed the fingers of her right hand on his PSI nodes on his face. He immediately started to fidget, but T'Pol ignored it and continued.

"My mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts," she said softly.

The oddest sensation occurred for Trip his mind was at one with T'Pol's. She used this connection to lower all his barriers, as her barriers were now lowered. Emotions, thoughts, and memories flowed between the two of them. She felt the depth of his pain at losing their daughter and he felt the primal rage and sadness that she felt. All their misunderstandings and miscommunications were there and somehow being resolved.

T'Pol felt the love that Trip felt for her. A moan of pleasure escaped her. All of Trip's fears about the melding and the bond melted away. He wanted this intimacy with her; he needed this intimacy with her. As T'Pol placed her other hand on his face to join her right hand, she moved herself into his lap. His hands instinctively went around her waist and brought her closer. This was what he wanted and now he knew that she wanted it, also.

"Trip," she murmured then her mouth sought his mouth.

She captured his mouth and he retaliated by taking control of her body. He slipped his arms under legs; while his other arm supported her back then he stood up and carried her to his bed.

_I love you, darlin'. _He thought in his mind.

_I know. _She answered in hers.

He heard it as plain as day. He heard her mind speaking to him. _Why was afraid of a mind meld? _

_I do not know, adun. _She answered him.

_Adun? _

_Husband. _

_Wife? _

_Adun'a. _

_I love you, adun'a. _

They were one, as he lay down on top of her and they started to wrestle their clothes off. All the problems that this bond would cause, all the trouble their relationship would cause them personally and professionally was forgotten for now. For now all they wanted was to be joined as one.

STSTST

The newly finished _Excalibur_ and the _Atlantis_ led the 18 Daedalus-Class starships at warp 5.5 to the intercept point of the Romulan Convoy. Their orders were simple: Destroy the convoy and as many of the Romulans ships as possible. Captain Anthony Mountbatten of the _Excalibur_ at 34 years old was one of the younger captains in the fleet, but he came from a long line of military men. The co-leader of the attack fleet was Captain Richard Stiles of the _Atlantis_. Unlike Mountbatten Stiles didn't come from a long military line, but from colonists and boomers. He had been born in space himself and joined Starfleet because he liked the idea of making a living in space.

Better armed, shielded, and faster than the Daedalus-Class ships, the NX starships were right ships to lead the attack. As they dropped out of warp, on the view screen appeared the image of the thirty freighter ships of the convoy along with its twelve ship escort. Mountbatten contacted Stiles.

"I think we should split into two groups, each led by an NX and consisting of nine Daedalus ships," he said to Stiles.

"I agree."

"You take the bow, while I hot the convoy's flank?" suggested Mountbatten.

"Sounds good to me," said Stiles.

The connection was broken and Mountbatten peeled away nine of the Daedalus ships for the attack on the flank. The _Excalibur_ led the ships into position, while the _Atlantis_ formed up their attack formation.

Stiles felt his heartbeat quicken. He had been recently promoted to the Atlantis. It was well know that he had lost one of his brothers, who was a lieutenant on a frigate that had been destroyed. The Romulans took no prisoners.

"Sir, something is happening out there," he science officer remarked.

"Be specific, Lieutenant," he ordered.

He didn't need to be specific, as Stiles stared at the view screen as twenty Birds of Prey de-cloaked. They were now outnumbered 32 to 20.

"God damn it," he muttered.

"Sir, what should we do?" asked his tactical officer.

"We fight," he answered.

STSTST

Beckett sat behind his desk with Roddenberry seated on a sofa in the corner. He watched as Admiral Gardner took a seat in front of the large mahogany desk. Beckett paid no attention to the man until he was seated and ready to speak.

Beckett sat up straight and stared at Gardner for a few moments. Gardner merely sat and looked at the desk top. He knew what was coming.

"We lost sixteen ships. The two NX and two Daedalus-Class barely got back to Earth in one piece. All those men and women lost and we did never slow down their supply convoy," growled Beckett.

"I'm sorry, sir. We weren't expecting those added cloaked ships," said Gardner.

Beckett snorted derisively.

"The Senate want someone's head served on a platter, so doesn't the President and the media. I intend to stick an apple in your mouth and serve you to them, Gardner. You will take blame for your operations then you will resign. Do you understand?" asked Beckett.

"I understand, sir," he said.

"We can't afford failures of that scale. We needed successes," said Beckett.

"Who will take my place?" asked Gardner.

Beckett looked over at Roddenberry. His chief of staff smiled then spoke up.

"Black will be promoted to full admiral and given the position of Chief of Ops," he said. "It will be up to him to fight this war for us."

"He's a good man," said Gardner.

"Maybe you should have listened to him, Admiral. He was against this until we had more ships. He was right," said Beckett.

"We still need to stop their supply line," said Gardner.

"That will not be up to you," said Roddenberry.

STSTST

The _Columbia_ arrived at Coridan along with three Daedalus-Class ships. They were to act as an escort for the _Enterprise_, since lone Starfleet ships were being attacked now by Nausicaans, Orions, Romulans, and Xindi-Reptilians, who had joined the Romulan alliance.

Archer, seated in his command chair, had Captain Hernandez brought up on the main view screen. A smile appeared on her face when she saw him.

"Jon," she said.

"Erica," he replied. "Do you have any idea why the _Enterprise_ is being recalled?"

"Not a clue. It appears that Admiral Black, our new Chief of Ops, wants you," she said.

"God knows what he wants from me," sighed Archer. "I don't want to find myself in a diplomatic role again."

"But you are good at it, Jon," smiled Hernandez. "We should get going."

"I know," he grinned. "Enterprise, out."

The screen went blank. Archer looked over at Shran, who was standing by his command chair with his hands behind his back.

"What is it, Shran?"

"Beware of promotions, Pinkskin, they often cause more problems than they are worth," he said.

"I don't think I have to worry about a promotion, Shran," he sighed. "Travis, follow the Columbia, she has the lead."

"Aye, aye, sir," said Travis.

STSTST

Trip sat in his Ready Room with a smile on his face. Since he accepted the bond and their marriage, he felt happy. It was odd, but he actually liked that if he lowered his mental barriers that T'Pol could share his emotions and he could share hers. He even liked the fact that they bond appeared to be strong enough so that they could mind speak with each other. It was something that was developing and they needed to practice.

"_Captain, I have a comm from Starfleet Command Admiral Black_," said the voice of Ensign Sing.

"Route him into my Ready Room," he said.

Trip turned on his small view screen on his desk and waited for the Admiral to appear. Within moments the new Chief of Ops appeared.

"Captain Tucker, I need you to break off your patrol of Proxima Colony and return to Earth at your best speed," said Black.

"Yes, sir," said Trip.

"What is your best speed?" he asked.

"Warp 7.2 for an hour then cruising at warp 6.8," he answered.

Black smiled, "I should have known you'd have the _Pegasus_ was the fastest and best armed. I knew you didn't need an escort."

"Sir, may I ask why we are returning to Earth?"

"You may ask," he smirked then chuckled to himself. "I have a special duty for you and your ship, Captain. I think you will find it challenging."

"We'll be there orbiting Earth in nine hours," said Trip.

"Make it so, Captain. Black, out."

The screen went blank. Trip hit his comm button.

"Engineering," said Rostov.

"Alex, I'll need warp 7.2 for an hour and then cruise speed of warp 6.8, can you handle it?" he asked.

"Handle it," said Rostov. "I look forward to it. I've been wanting to push this engine."

"Push away, Commander," said Trip.

He broke the link then stood up to go to the Bridge. It was time to go home.

STSTST

Valdore visited the work camps that the Romulan Star Empire set up planetside. The men's camp had force field fences and pre-fabricated housing. From ages 16 to elderly the men lived and ate together. These males were treated harshly by the Centurions and uhlans, but the conditions were not completely abysmal. Their food was edible and housing clean enough to keep away disease.

His next visit was to the female and children's camp. This appalled Valdore. It was dirty and the food given them was a synthetic mush. He could see were illness was starting to set in as many of the children were suffering from lethargy. Valdore called over a centurion.

"Centurion Rikal, explain the condition here," he demanded.

"I don't know what you mean, sir."

"The food, the dirt, the lack of running water so that they can wash properly," he said. "These people are getting ill."

"They are being used for menial labor, so we have limited resources used for them," Rikal stated.

"If they are ill then they will die. If they are dead, they are useless. I want proper food given to them. I also want running water in each living area, as well as a doctor to treat those who are getting ill. We will need workers. If we treat these workers so that they remain healthy, they will perform better and more work. Do you understand, Centurion Rikal?" he asked coldly.

"Yes, sir," said Rikal.

"I will be back in a week to check if the changes I have demanded have been made. Do not disappointment me," he growled.

Valdore and his entourage strolled away.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

**Fleet Admiral Beckett's Office**.

On the conference table was fine china plates, coffee cups, creamer and sugar bowl, coffee pot, and linen napkins. The remains of sandwiches dirtied the plates. Fleet Admiral Beckett sip coffee from his china cup, Admiral Black reviewed a PADD and Admiral Roddenberry looked out the window at the San Francisco Bridge. They had worked through lunch and now were waiting for Captain Archer.

Commander Wayne opened the door.

"Captain Archer, sir," he said.

Archer walked into the large office of the Fleet Admiral. Black placed his PADD on the table; Roddenberry forced his attention back into the room, while Beckett motioned Archer to take a seat at the other end of the conference table. Adjusting the jacket of his service uniform, Archer sat down.

"You made good time, Jonathan," said Beckett.

"I believe Captain Hernandez was under the impression that she was to push the envelope to get me here," he said.

"She was right," smiled Beckett.

Roddenberry placed his forearms on the table and leaned forward. He looked at Archer, as if sizing the man up, before speaking.

"Jefferies has scheduled some upgrades for the _Enterprise_," he said.

"It seems every time we get to Earth lately we either get upgrades or refits," said Archer.

"We are trying to get ahead of the curb after being behind for so long. It's a struggle, but Captain Tucker got us on track and now Admiral Jeffries and his people are pushing it further, especially weapons. We are already up upgrading to Mark II torpedoes," explained Roddenberry.

Archer nodded, but didn't reply. It was now Admiral Black's turn to speak.

"Even with loses we have enough ships to form the First Fleet. 155 Starships, mainly Daedalus-class cruisers. Rear Admiral Duval with command it," Black started.

"Duval is a good man," remarked Archer.

Black smirked. Duval was a by the book commander, but that was what he needed to get the fleet in ship. Once he thought the fleet was ready he'd remove Duval.

"We have pulled the NX starships from the First Fleet and will be using them to start the Second Fleet," stated Black.

Archer knew they were up to ten or twelve NX. That wasn't much of Second Fleet.

"We intend the Second Fleet to be more representative of the Coalition, which means it will be comprised of Starfleet, Tellerite, Vulcan, and now Coridan starships," Beckett said.

Black lifted the PADD that he lay down. He held it up so Archer could see it.

"On this PADD is your promotion to Rear Admiral and the duty assignment of commander of the Second Fleet," he told him. "We need you to build the Second Fleet."

"You'll have the NX, except the _Pegasus_ which is being given a special assignment," he said.

Archer looked at Roddenberry. Rear Admiral, he wasn't looking for that and wasn't even sure that he wanted it. He wanted Trip under his command. In time he'd have to find out what this special assignment was.

"The _Enterprise_ will be your flag ship," said Black. "That's why you are getting more upgrades. We are also investigating taking the design Poseidon-Class ship out of mothballs. They were the precursor of the NX, similar design, though smaller, but with limitations that can be fixed. We are looking at fifty ships within six months, which will be warp 6 capable with new shields and weapons. They will be designated destroyers and overloaded with weapons. They will be yours."

"And all I have to do to have a Second Fleet is add Andorian, Tellerite, Vulcan, and Coridan ships," smiled Archer.

"Exactly," said Beckett.

STSTST

Trip found the shower in his quarters a little too hot, but he didn't complain because it was the way T'Pol liked it. He was surprised when she wanted to join in the shower and even more surprised when she wanted to do more than scrub each other's backs. Their wet lovemaking session was done and now he had to get dressed in his service uniform and meet with Admiral Black and Vice Admiral Elena Carras, his new Vice Chief of Ops.

"Darlin'," he said then kissed T'Pol again, "I've got to get going."

"You have fifty-six minutes before the meeting. If you transport down, you will not be late," she pointed out.

Trip reached over and turned off the water causing T'Pol warp herself around his body for warmth. A moan exited Trip, as he felt his body respond to her. Now that he was open to the bond, it seemed that arousal occurred easily.

"Still got to dry off and get dress, darlin', and give my XO orders," he said.

"Your XO accepts your orders, K'diwa," she said.

"God, I love you," he said then kissed her.

Exiting the shower Trip grabbed a towel and tossed it to T'Pol, who out it around her neck, as she stood there and watched him dry himself. Trip looked over at her and smiled. She raised her left eyebrow.

"I have no idea what Black has in store for the _Pegasus_," he said.

"So far the _Pegasus_ is the most advanced and powerful NX starship. More than likely it will be a crucial mission," she said.

"Yeah," he said.

"I can feel your doubt, K'diwa," she said. "Why do you doubt yourself?"

"I'm not Jonathan Archer, T'Pol. I'm just an engineer who has been given a command," he said.

"You have proven yourself a more than capable commander when you were on the _Enterprise_. It was you who stopped the war between Vulcan and Andoria," she said.

"I still have doubts," he said.

T'Pol walked over to his and gently touched his cheek. He could feel their bond spark with the simple touch.

"I know that you are more than capable to command a starship, K'diwa. If you may doubt yourself, but I ask you not to doubt me," she said.

Trip grinned then leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips.

"I have to get dressed.

STSTST

Trip entered the new Chief of Ops office. It was sparsely decorated, as if he hadn't the time to bother with such things as holos of his family. Standing at a smart table reviewing ship deployment in the Alpha Quadrant were Black and Carras.

"Admiral, Captain Tucker," said the Lieutenant Commander, who escorted him into the officer.

Black waved the lieutenant commander away then he and Vice Admiral Carras turned their attention to Trip.

"Good, Captain Tucker," said Black then he looked at Carras. "This is Vice Admiral Carras. She is the new Vice Chief of Ops."

"Ma'am," Trip said then nodded.

"Captain Tucker."

"We are pulling out the Poseidon-Class ships designs and are starting production on them. We've made some changes taking a way crew and adding more weapons. It will now be classified a destroyer and carry a crew of 65," he said. "It will be a run of fifty ships."

"Warp 6?"

"Warp 6," answered Carras.

"Where is it going to be built? All our facilities are being used for Daedalus-class and upgrades," said Trip.

"That is where you come in, Captain," said Black.

"The Vulcans have agreed to build the ships," said Carras. "They need the designs and they'll get started building it."

"What do you need from me, sir?" asked Trip.

"First, I take be sending an engineering team to Vulcan to help translate our thinking into their thinking. You'll work with them, but also you'll start setting up FOB for us. Once we have a full Second Fleet it will operate out of Vulcan space," said Black.

"That's on the line between the Alpha and Beta Quadrants," said Trip.

"A good place to start hitting the Romulans back," said Black.

"Sir, who'll captain and crew these ships?" asked Trip.

"We are recruiting boomers, independent contractors, and fast tracking top students in the academy," said Black. "We'll have the people."

"When do I leave for Vulcan?" asked Trip.

"Seven days. You'll be away from Earth for probably a long time, so I assumed shore leave for you and your crew might be a good idea. Let them see their families and blow off some steam before they find them stuck on Vulcan. Form what I hear Vulcan is no Risa," said Black with a smile.

"No, sir, it isn't," said Trip. "Will a FOB include a starbase?"

"If you can convince the Vulcans to let us build a starbase somewhere in their space, I'll give you my job," said Black.

Trip grinned, "Thank you, sir, but no thanks. I'll stick to captain."

"You and your crew get five days off. Take advantage of them, Captain," said Black.

"Yes, sir."

STSTST

Archer returned to the Enterprise with new pips and rank insignia. He was now a rear admiral. Lieutenant Morse and Shran were there to greet him at the docking port. Archer stepped through the hatch and Malcolm and Shran noticed the change of uniform.

"Sir," Lieutenant Morse snapped to attention.

Shran smiled and nodded his respect. Archer chuckled.

"We need to get this ship to Jupiter Station then Shore Leave for the crew," he said.

"Yes, Admiral," smiled Morse.

"Morse," Archer said in a warning tone.

"So, Admiral Archer, what is the plan?" asked Shran as they walked down the corridor.

"I'm in charge of the new Second Fleet, as soon as I put it together," smiled Archer. "The Enterprise will be my flag ship, so some changes will be needed."

"What changes may I ask," said Shran.

"The Situation Room will be expanded in a Command and Control, so I can oversee and run the fleet. My XO will become captain of this ship and we'll have to recruit a new XO."

"Are you saying that I'll be captain of this ship?" asked Shran.

"I'm just waiting for the final okay, but I see no problem with it. Do you mind wearing a Starfleet uniform?" asked Archer.

"Captain of a ship," he said to himself. "I'll wear whatever you want."

"Gentlemen, we have a great deal of work to do," said Archer, as they entered the turbolift.

STSTST

After the attack which destroyed their home in Florida and killed Elizabeth Tucker, Charles Tucker II and his wife Ellen moved to the Gulf Coast in Alabama. Ellen was a retired mathematics teacher and Charles a retired designer of hovercars. Their new home was a beach house along a private stretch of beach. It was a big enough place for Edward Tucker and his wife Anna and their two kids Charles IV and Annabelle, as well as his oldest sister Meg.

Trip decided to visit his parents while on shore leave. Because of Elizabeth's death and his parents mourning for her, he had avoided going home for several years. The baby Elizabeth and Terra Prime incident also made him keep his distance from his family. There was no way he could tell them about his doomed daughter. He kept in touch sending a letter or a comm, but on the whole Trip had cut himself off from his family. Now it was time to spend some time with them and to make matters even more interesting he invited T'Pol to join him.

With their uniforms packed along with civilian clothes in their duffle and garment bags, Trip rented a hovercar and he and T'Pol drove from the Marine Base Birmingham to his parents' new home. As they neared the home, Trip could feel T'Pol apprehension.

"Don't worry, darlin', I told them that you are one of my closest friends and that I wanted you to meet my family," he said.

"We do not have to mention that we are mated," she said.

"No, we don't. Not this time," he smiled.

Trip parked his hovercar near the house. It was late afternoon. Trip sat for a moment and enjoyed the view of the ocean and the white sand. From T'Pol he felt a sense of intimidation. It was the water, so much water. She came from a planet with little water.

"Darlin', I'm taking you swimming before we leave," he said.

"I do not think so, K'diwa," she said.

Trip noticed his parents leaving the house and stand on the porch. The first thing that hit him was their hair was grayer. They had aged over the years since he last seen them.

"Let's meet my parents," he said.

He and T'Pol got out of the hovercar and walked over to the house. Both Charles and Ellen were smiling.

"Good to see you, son," said Charles.

"Hey, dad," he said.

"Who is your lovely guest?" asked his mother.

"This is Commander T'Pol, my XO," he said.

"Come on in the house. You're welcome to our home, T'Pol."

STSTST

Trip and his father stood by the grill. His father had three steaks, corn on the cob, peppers, and mushrooms grilling up. T'Pol sat at the picnic bench watching them grill and talk.

"So, you're a captain now," Charles said.

"Yup," said Trip.

"Any chance that you can get transferred back to a planetside job with this war starting?" his father asked him.

"Nope. I'm needed out there, dad. I can't turn my back on my duty," he said.

Charles looked over his son's shoulder and stared at T'Pol and smiled, "I can see that."

Trip turned his head and looked over at the serene looking T'Pol. Just then his mother exited carrying a pan with rice pilaf in it. She walked over to the grill.

"Cut up the mushrooms and the peppers and I have dinner ready for T'Pol," she said.

"How about an ear of corn?" Charles asked.

"Vulcans don't touch their food with their hands," grinned Trip.

"What is she going to think of us eating it in front of her?" asked Ellen.

"Ma, she's been on a Human starship for five years now. She's gotten used to us," Trip said.

"Well, it looks like dinner is ready," said Charles.

This was T'Pol's first time having rice pilaf. She enjoyed it, as she enjoyed the grilled mushrooms, though the peppers were not quite her thing. Trip and his parents ate the steaks and corn along. Charles and Trip had cold beer with their meal, while Ellen and T'Pol drank iced tea.

As the meal finished up, Ellen mentioned his siblings.

"Edward wants to see you, but he is having trouble getting the time off. His company has been contracted to start making parts for Starfleet," said Ellen.

"Meg is protesting see you. She says Starfleet is a military organization and it keeps getting us involved in war," said Charles.

"Starfleet would prefer to be an exploratory organization, but war keeps coming to Earth's door without provocation," remarked T'Pol.

The remark made Ellen smile. She had a feeling that T'Pol was defending Trip and the Humans she served with more than herself.

"Tell Ed that I'll see and his wife and kids the next time. It won't be for a while, though. We are headed to Vulcan in a few days. I don't know when the _Pegasus_ will be back to Earth," said Trip. "As for Meg, well, tell her that her little brother still loves her, even if he is a big bad military man."

"This war is going to be bad isn't it, son," said Charles.

"It already is, dad. There already have been a lot of innocent deaths."

"Why are they attacking us, Trip? Why this time?" asked Ellen.

The Xindi attacked because they were lied to by someone from another dimension, but the Romulans were different. How do you explain that this was what they did?

Trip was about to answer when T'Pol spoke up.

"Like the Klingons and several other alien races, their culture and society is based on expanding its empire. Why did Rome keep expanding? The answer is because if they didn't they would not be Rome. The Romulans need to invade and conqueror," she explained.

"I just wish it wasn't us," said Ellen.

"It is, ma," Trip said then he gave her a weak smile. "Have some faith in Starfleet and the coalition we are building. I don't want to sound like I'm proud of this, but the truth is that the Romulans have underestimated Humanity and how hard we are willing to fight. We don't give up easily."

"Let's hope the Romulans do," said Charles Tucker II.

Silence dominated for a few moments. The thoughts of war were sobering and thought provoking. Ellen noticed that T'Pol was staring at Trip. She knew Vulcans didn't show emotions, but she was sure that her eyes, just for a moment, showed something and that something was love. This brought a smile to her face, as she liked the idea that Trip would have someone with him who loved him during these difficult times.

"No more talk of war," said Charles. "You two need to enjoy yourselves before you leave for Vulcan."

"I agree. I thought that T'Pol and I could send the day at the beach tomorrow."

"You two relax and we'll keep you well fed," said Ellen.

"Thank you for having me to your home, Mr. and Mrs. Tucker," said T'Pol.

Ellen looked from Trip to T'Pol and said, "You're important to Trip, so you're important to us, T'Pol. I'm glad you're here."

Trip had a big smile crack his face. His mother was accepting T'Pol into the family without even asking. He was glad he came home before he started the Vulcan mission.

End of Season Five. Season Six to come.


End file.
